William Van Wagenen | The Libertarian Institute

Creative Chaos: How U.S. Planners Sparked the Anti-Government Protests of the So-Called Arab Spring in Syria

by William Van Wagenen | Jan 31, 2022 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

“I have been a refugee for 37 years due to my political engagement against the ruling Baath party. I cannot go back to Syria without being punished. But I see what the western countries, Turkey, and the Gulf states are now trying to do to my country. It has nothing to do with human rights or democracy. They want to divide the country and get rid of an opponent to the US´ plans for the region.”- Saliba Mourad Introduction Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, President Bashar al-Assad has claimed that Syria was the victim of a plot by Western imperialist powers seeking to effect regime in...

Salafis Throwing Bombs: How American and British Planners Partnered With Al-Qaeda Affiliated Groups At the Start of the Syrian Civil War

by William Van Wagenen | Dec 28, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Introduction In the mainstream view, al-Qaeda did not play a role in the Syria conflict until Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dispatched his deputy, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, to Syria in August 2011 to establish a wing of the group there, called Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front. Additionally, al-Qaeda allegedly did not carry out any military operations until December 2011 and did not announce its establishment until January 2012. However, there is evidence that al-Qaeda affiliated militants were involved in the Syrian conflict much earlier. Saudi intelligence chief...

How Ambassador Robert Ford Attempted to Whitewash the CIA’s Dirty War on Syria

by William Van Wagenen | Mar 31, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

In a recent essay for Newlines Magazine, former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford discussed the ways in which the so-called Syrian revolution went wrong. He does so by recounting his interactions with two prominent Syrian opposition leaders, political activist and lawyer Razan Zeitouneh and Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander Colonel Abd al-Jabbar al-Akaidi. Ambassador Ford argues that the...

The Salafist Roots of the Syrian Uprising

by William Van Wagenen | Apr 28, 2020 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

In the mainstream view, the Syrian conflict began in the Spring of 2011 with a period of peaceful, pro-democracy protests, which were then brutally suppressed by the Assad regime. As the liberal-left Intercept describes it, “Syrian civilians rose up to demand political reform. That protest movement soon turned into open revolution after government forces met the protestors with gunfire, bombardment, mass arrests, and torture.”The Intercept, “Syria’s voice of conscience has a message for the West,” by Murtaza Hussein and Marwan Hisham, October 26, 2019. Accessed on November 22, 2019....

A Brief History of the Destruction of Yarmouk

by William Van Wagenen | Apr 3, 2019 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

How the CIA helped jihadist rebels invade and occupy the capital of the Palestinian diaspora Introduction The Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria was thrust into international conscientiousness in March 2014 when the United Nations published the now iconic image of “thousands of Palestinians waiting amid the rubble of crumbling buildings to receive food aid in Yarmouk.” When describing the tragedy in Yarmouk, most Western journalists and human rights groups have overwhelmingly highlighted the role of the Syrian army, which imposed a siege on the camp in January 2013. Philip Louter of...

The Myth of US 'Inaction' in Syria

by William Van Wagenen | Jul 8, 2018 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Introduction When the Russian military intervened in the Syrian war in October 2015, many in the Western press complained bitterly, demanding that US planners intervene directly in Syria on behalf of the anti-government rebels in response. Reuters alleged that “The Middle East is angry and bewildered by US inaction in Syria,” arguing that “The question on everyone's mind is: will the United States and its European and regional Sunni allies intervene to stop President Vladimir Putin from reversing the gains made by mainstream Syrian rebels after more than four years of war? Few are holding...

Did Assad Deliberately Release Islamist Prisoners to Militarize and Radicalize the Syrian Uprising?

by William Van Wagenen | Feb 22, 2018 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The idea that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad deliberately militarized the Syrian uprising and sought to support extremist rebel groups, including ISIS, has been repeated often in the Western press. As proof of such claims, critics of the Syrian government suggest that Assad deliberately released Islamists from Syrian jails; that the Syrian army has not fought ISIS, and that Assad sought to support ISIS by purchasing oil from the terror group. It is argued that Assad took these measures to sabotage the peaceful, democratic uprising he allegedly faced, and in order to convince the West that...

There is No FSA, There is Only Al-Qaeda

by William Van Wagenen | Dec 27, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

A brief overview of collaboration between the US-backed Free Syrian Army and al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. Among Syria commentators in the West, both left and mainstream, it is commonly claimed that the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad has attempted to crush the supposedly moderate, secular rebels of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), while at the same time deliberately supporting extremist rebel groups in order to “Islamize” the Syrian rebellion and to convince the West the Syrian government is really fighting terrorism. It is argued that if Assad could claim his...