US has no interest in removing Daesh: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Steven Kelley, a former CIA/NSA contractor in Los Angeles, to discuss a report saying that the US Defense Department says it will not share intelligence on Daesh terrorists in Syria unless Moscow changes its stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Many critics have been saying that the eradication of ISIL (Daesh) should be a much higher priority than any political rift between countries or groups after all the atrocities that we have seen coming out of Daesh?

Kelley: Well naturally assuming that one of the countries did not create Daesh, then yes, that would be a very valid point but obviously I think we all know that one of the players is very actually responsible for creating this problem so certainly they have no interest in removing it or cooperating in the effort to remove it.

Press TV: How can the Pentagon very directly offer it protection, Daesh protection, to pressure Russia into a particular political position and use this as a carrot in front of a mule’s head?

Kelley: It is amazing, it seems like John Kerry is saying something different every week with respect to whether or not the United States believes Assad can stay or go. So it seems to be nobody really pays attention to what Kerry or the State Department or anyone in the United States’ administration says at this point but obviously it is ludicrous … and the Russians who have said very clearly the Syrian people are the only people who have any right to say anything about this and even if they do have an election tomorrow just like the last one and Assad is overwhelmingly supported by a large margin of the vote with a large turnout, they are still going to complain and not be satisfied.

So this is just a game of war. It is just a big bluff. It is intended to make the United States look foolish and they really do not need any help doing that.

Press TV: And with this kind of tit for tat, an ultimatum-type foreign policy, isn’t this only going to prolong eradication of Daesh?

Kelley: Well I do not think that this is …, this public policy talk that is going on for the masses to view is going to have any effect on the actual military campaign that Russia is working on. I do not think the Russian military is going to waste any time in eradicating this and certainly with the cooperation of the ground forces, of Hezbollah, etc. I think that these things are in play and they certainly have no intention of pulling back or slowing down. It is just a matter of time and if we look at just the campaigns that are going on right now and the reclamation of territory we can see that this is a matter of time and any kind of peace talks, talks of withdrawal or ceasefire, anything like this, is strictly buying time for Daesh to try to regroup and recover from their losses.

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