Scott Bennet: US using ISIL as mercenary force

Press TV has carried out an interview with Scott Bennet, a former US army psychological warfare officer and counter-terrorism analyst, in San Francisco, to discuss Washington’s plan to train and equip anti-Assad militants in Syria.

Following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: What do you make of the situation that actually the program was offered but no volunteers showed up? Why do you think that is the case?

Bennet: I worked in psychological operations. I worked at the highest levels of the military and State Department in the Bush administration and I was part of the key teams that developed the messaging and the strategic communications. That has been the failure of the United States to not understand the culture, the language, the history, the religion, and the tribalism; all of those variables that inhabit the Middle Eastern equation of identity. It is astounding to me, it is shameful and absolutely crazy that the United States is continuing this policy of trying to find basically in the middle of the desert, oasis of democracies that think like little US automatons and have the same values and beliefs and things that have been grown in the United States from its 1776 Germanic-Celtic English culture; they don’t have that in the Middle East and yet we continue to fail to adapt our communications properly.

Press TV: What you just said talking about looking for that oasis of perhaps democracy. Is it that the United States is looking for that? Is it with what they are doing that they are actually preventing those who perhaps are seeking more egalitarian situations on the ground, actually preventing that from taking place?

Bennet: Let us always judge people by their actions and not by their words or what they say. The actions of the United States really has been bloodshed, destruction and damage over the past 10, 15 years in the Middle East and you can’t say seriously that you are looking to cultivate democracy by destroying people and causing bloodshed.

Democracy and representation has to be a voluntary thing, otherwise it is tyranny. It is either tyranny by the existing ruler or it is tyranny by the United States. And the tyranny of the United States is even worse because the US goes in, sets up a tyranny and then pulls out and causes chaos and mayhem to unfold.

This whole psy-op of recruiting people to fight ISIL is complete nonsense, because no one is going to fight for the United States. No one in that area is going to fight for the American values of democracy or anything that it believes. They are going to fight only for their tribe, what they believe in, their values and that is something we failed to understand and incorporate.

If the United States were serious about fighting ISIL, and I do not think they are; I think they are using them as a mercenary force to destabilize Syria and Assad and ultimately destabilize Iran. I think that is very dangerous, but if they were serious, they would create a special confederacy, if you will, using Russia, China, and Iran to unify with the United States and focus specifically on ISIL. They wouldn’t worry about Assad, they wouldn’t worry about all of the other peculiar differences in opinion or attitude or political governance. They would simply focus on destroying the destructive bloodshed that is putting women into sex slavery and killing and maiming and destroying the historical sites of humanity.

If the United States were serious it would create a coalition, instead of demanding that the world follow its lead. I don’t know when the United States was voted as the world’s leader; I think that has been the most destructive thing our country has ever allowed to happen.

Americans are very simple. Americans believe they have been fighting in that area of the world for thousands of years, it is none of the American people’s business or interests and let them alone and let the world take its own course. This interventionism has caused us nothing but trillions of dollars, bloodshed and thousands of men and women killed, maimed, and traumatized and it has destroyed the American reputation. No country in the Islamic world respects or likes the United States anymore, so obviously any fights that it gets into every Islamic personality is going to ‘Yes! I’ll take your money, I’ll take your training, I’ll pretend that I’m going to fight for you and then I’m going to take the weapons and fight against you.’ It is the Salahuddin methodology and strategy and it is sad that the United States’ military and Congress do not learn from that. I cannot chalk it up to ignorance. I have to chalk it up to they are intentionally using this ISIL as an opportunity to create more instability in the Middle East.

I hope it is reversed, but I think this latest plan is complete ignorance and I think it is going to fall apart. I hope the rest of the world can help educate the United States politicians very quickly so that we gain a more egalitarian pragmatic view of politics and seek out friendship with Iran, seek out friendship with Russia, seek out closer ties with China to focus on that problem and stop going to Salafist, Wahhabist alliance with Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Oman and Kuwait that have been funding these people. They have been funding these organizations and I saw that first hand in the Swiss bank reports that I was filing up the chain of command into the American politicians since 2012. That is a whole other story but they have covered up that and they have refused to cut off the funding.

MTM/HSN

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk