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US war against Daesh terrorists a complete farce: Analyst

Tuesday, 26 January 2016 8:54 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 29 January 2016 2:20 AM ]

America’s war against Daesh is “a complete farce,” analyst Steven D Kelley says.

America’s war against Daesh and other terrorist groups in the Middle East is “a complete farce,” an American political analyst says.

Steven D Kelley, a former NSA/CIA contractor, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday while commenting on a recent congressional hearing about Saudi Arabia’s role in fomenting extremism and terrorism across the world.

“When the congressman from Georgia questions the former US ambassador to Syria regarding Wahhabism, and the inability for the United States to effectively deal with ISIL, and at the same time support the Saudi government, it seems to illustrate a very profound ignorance to the nature and history of Wahhabism, here in the United States,” said Kelley.

“And it certainly seems very awkward – at the very least – the US officials admitting that they were selling billions of dollars worth of arms to a regime that is actively using oil profits to spread a very violent ideology, that would appear to be the exact same enemy that the United States is pretending to fight against,” he stated.

“So it is encouraging that the congressman from Georgia represents his constituency. The American public -- at the very least --people are beginning to rise up and see that this entire fight against terrorism and especially this most recent fight against ISIL, or Daesh, is of course a complete farce,” the analyst noted. “And it’s certainly refreshing to expect that they may actually make some serious changes to stop what they are doing.”

Speaking in an early January congressional hearing aired by C-SPAN, Democratic congressman from Georgia, Hank Johnson said, “It is true …that the ideology of ISIL lines up with Wahhabism.”

Congressman Johnson asked participant in the hearing panel Robert Ford, a former US ambassador to Syria, “Is it fair to say that Saudi’s support for the teachings of Wahhabism creates fertile ground for ISIL recruitment efforts?

Ford, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, answered, “I think Saudi promotion of Wahhabism is absolutely a problem” when it comes to ISIL recruitment.

Saudi Arabia's growing international isolation and Iran's rising regional influence has led Riyadh to cut diplomatic ties with Tehran, according to a recent analysis by the Eurasia Group, the world's largest political-risk consultancy.

"Saudi Arabia is in serious trouble, and they know it," Ian Bremmer, an American political scientist and president of Eurasia Group, earlier toldBusiness Insider.

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www.presstv.co.uk