1 00:00:00,01 --> 00:00:04,40 Welcome back to uprising I'm so not equal had the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria 2 00:00:04,45 --> 00:00:05,42 is celebrating its 3 00:00:05,43 --> 00:00:09,13 a one year anniversary today on June twenty ninth two thousand and fourteen the 4 00:00:09,14 --> 00:00:10,14 group declared itself 5 00:00:10,15 --> 00:00:15,18 a caliphate with Abu Bakar al Baghdadi as its leader in the lead up to those where 6 00:00:15,19 --> 00:00:16,46 moment ISIS carried out 7 00:00:16,47 --> 00:00:20,97 a who reflect massacre in the Syrian border town of core body last Thursday the 8 00:00:20,98 --> 00:00:25,68 Kurdish town so one hundred forty five of its residents killed and what is likely 9 00:00:25,69 --> 00:00:29,73 to be the second worst massacre ever carried out by ISIS there were many children 10 00:00:29,74 --> 00:00:33,78 women and elderly among the killings which were the results of at least two suicide 11 00:00:33,79 --> 00:00:37,31 bomb attacks Meanwhile three other incidents around the world are being attributed 12 00:00:37,32 --> 00:00:40,62 to ISIS late last week inching Musea an armed attack on 13 00:00:40,63 --> 00:00:44,89 a beach resulted in at least thirty eight deaths and at least half of those deaths 14 00:00:44,90 --> 00:00:46,50 were of British nationals U.K. 15 00:00:46,51 --> 00:00:48,56 Prime Minister David Cameron has not promised 16 00:00:48,57 --> 00:00:54,18 a quote full spectrum response to ISIS calling it a poisonous death cult in France 17 00:00:54,19 --> 00:00:58,48 a US run chemical plant was attacked with one person being beheaded an unsuccessful 18 00:00:58,49 --> 00:01:00,86 attempt to blow up the entire plant and in Kuwait 19 00:01:00,90 --> 00:01:04,27 a mosque was attacked with dozens killed the U.S. 20 00:01:04,28 --> 00:01:08,25 And its allies launched twenty one yr strikes aimed at ISIS over the weekend in 21 00:01:08,26 --> 00:01:11,34 Syria and Iraq My guest is Risperdal He's 22 00:01:11,35 --> 00:01:14,65 a veteran freelance foreign correspondent who's traveled widely Prost of Middle 23 00:01:14,66 --> 00:01:16,86 East and just and has written 24 00:01:16,87 --> 00:01:21,28 a number of books and one of them being conversations with terrorists and Middle 25 00:01:21,29 --> 00:01:25,95 East leaders on politics violence and empire and also his book is called His latest 26 00:01:25,96 --> 00:01:29,53 book is called Inside Syria the back story of the Civil War and what the world can 27 00:01:29,54 --> 00:01:34,58 expect Welcome back to the show Reese thank you so much for having me now co Bonnie 28 00:01:34,62 --> 00:01:37,09 just months ago successfully repelled 29 00:01:37,10 --> 00:01:41,93 a takeover by ISIS it was the center of Kurdish resistance and the U.S. 30 00:01:41,94 --> 00:01:47,04 Made much of the setback for ISIS What does this new attack mean with these suicide 31 00:01:47,05 --> 00:01:50,84 bombings last Thursday I mean how did it happen how does ISIS have 32 00:01:50,85 --> 00:01:56,31 a foothold in this place once again well it doesn't really have any really really 33 00:01:56,32 --> 00:02:03,04 occupy Harari aren't they were able to send. Suicide bombers and truck 34 00:02:03,05 --> 00:02:09,15 primers disguised as precious murder are described as Free Syrian Army are and 35 00:02:09,16 --> 00:02:11,12 cause you great deal of damage and it rose in 36 00:02:11,13 --> 00:02:15,51 a certain manner setback but I think it looking at it in 37 00:02:15,52 --> 00:02:20,98 a wider context the Kurdish Free Syrian Army forces were able to take 38 00:02:21,36 --> 00:02:27,94 a town right along the Kurdish Syria sorry Kurdish Syrian Turkish border 39 00:02:28,43 --> 00:02:35,23 and that would enable your potential cutting off supply lines to the ISIS 40 00:02:35,24 --> 00:02:39,34 forces not far away in Iraq so this scene in 41 00:02:39,35 --> 00:02:46,03 a wider context they're striking back and remember to keep their supply lines open 42 00:02:46,48 --> 00:02:52,52 all the way into central Syria let's talk about the fact that this 43 00:02:52,53 --> 00:02:58,53 particular incident and series of incidents on Thursday may have been enabled by 44 00:02:58,57 --> 00:03:01,95 Turkey this is how the New York Times described what happened Islam exchange 45 00:03:01,96 --> 00:03:06,83 fighters disguised in the uniforms of truck of Kurdish militia men had sneaked into 46 00:03:06,84 --> 00:03:08,90 the town at dawn when few people were weak than 47 00:03:08,91 --> 00:03:13,10 a large truck bomb exploded at the town's border crossing with Turkey setting off 48 00:03:13,11 --> 00:03:16,90 clashes between the Islamic state militants and local Kurdish forces the entered 49 00:03:16,91 --> 00:03:20,26 the neighborhoods and started killing civilians on their way said by Iran Mescal 50 00:03:20,27 --> 00:03:23,96 Kurdish activist and Co Bani and he said about one hundred Islamic fighters 51 00:03:23,97 --> 00:03:29,15 disguised at little as locals had taken up positions in cold Bonnie now in the past 52 00:03:29,16 --> 00:03:30,42 year Turkey has had 53 00:03:30,43 --> 00:03:34,35 a complicated relationship with ISIS and many of you accused it of essentially in 54 00:03:34,36 --> 00:03:35,43 neighboring ice 55 00:03:35,44 --> 00:03:39,08 a spider's to get in through its border do you think that's possibly what happened 56 00:03:39,33 --> 00:03:42,31 well there's no no question that historically Turkey has 57 00:03:42,32 --> 00:03:47,76 a lot of extremist forces to use its are there to transit through Turkey into Syria 58 00:03:47,80 --> 00:03:53,78 or they figured they were backing whoever heard seem to make some progress against 59 00:03:53,79 --> 00:03:58,87 the Assad government. Therefore have no problem packing trying to actually 60 00:03:58,88 --> 00:04:04,35 a military who is extraordinary. Groups The current thinking is that the Turks 61 00:04:04,36 --> 00:04:10,84 consider the Kurdish fighters of the P Y D who are affiliated with third Turkish 62 00:04:10,85 --> 00:04:17,61 people here here to be more dangerous them the ISIS. People who follow have 63 00:04:17,62 --> 00:04:23,39 you suspect that the Turks have allowed ISIS to use Turkish territory to come in to 64 00:04:23,40 --> 00:04:28,36 cross the border to bring in arms and so on because above all else the Turks do not 65 00:04:28,37 --> 00:04:30,41 want to see any P.K. 66 00:04:30,42 --> 00:04:30,98 Enclave 67 00:04:31,56 --> 00:04:35,89 a longer Syrian Turkish border the people here of course mean the Kercher STEM 68 00:04:36,38 --> 00:04:41,12 workers party any group in Turkey that has been trying finding prot Tommy Hearns 69 00:04:41,13 --> 00:04:41,63 labeled as 70 00:04:41,64 --> 00:04:48,71 a terrorist group tractor or not and of course this has been the. You 71 00:04:48,72 --> 00:04:54,99 know fighters have been amongst the most effective resistance to ISIS on the ground 72 00:04:55,00 --> 00:04:59,85 even undermining that effectively Turkey undermines the U.S. 73 00:04:59,86 --> 00:05:06,79 War on ISIS as well doesn't exactly it highlights the futility of the U.S. 74 00:05:06,80 --> 00:05:12,71 Bombing effort in Syria and Iraq because basically and has very few if any allies 75 00:05:12,72 --> 00:05:19,45 on the ground with the exception of the Kurds the dispute goes back to August of 76 00:05:19,46 --> 00:05:20,62 last year when the U.S. 77 00:05:20,63 --> 00:05:26,67 Decided that the Islamic state was the main enemy in Syria the Turks the Saudis and 78 00:05:26,68 --> 00:05:33,12 all the rebel groups basically believe that Assad is the main enemy and that 79 00:05:33,13 --> 00:05:37,52 difference has led to huge practical differences on the ground and of course lest 80 00:05:37,53 --> 00:05:39,74 we focus on the U.S. 81 00:05:39,75 --> 00:05:43,80 War as being anything other than a disaster let's talk about the fact that the U.S. 82 00:05:43,81 --> 00:05:50,05 Has over the past year and essentially gone back into Iraq in terms of now fighting 83 00:05:50,06 --> 00:05:55,21 in your war which has expanded into Syria over the weekend I mentioned it twenty 84 00:05:55,25 --> 00:06:01,72 one targets were hit twenty one airstrikes rather hit number of targets. Not only 85 00:06:01,73 --> 00:06:02,40 is the U.S. 86 00:06:02,41 --> 00:06:07,54 Bombing necessary you know seeming to be few Teil in this past year isn't it also 87 00:06:07,55 --> 00:06:13,64 fuelling ISIS doesn't make things worse doesn't and don't the past decades of U.S. 88 00:06:13,65 --> 00:06:19,26 Wars in the region prove that this is just not an option or an approach that ever 89 00:06:19,27 --> 00:06:25,53 works well you notice that. I mean it seems glaringly obvious to everybody everyone 90 00:06:25,54 --> 00:06:29,35 has except in Washington I just came back this weekend from speaking in Washington 91 00:06:29,36 --> 00:06:29,92 D.C. 92 00:06:30,29 --> 00:06:36,77 And there's this amazing bubble in the capital. The debate is between 93 00:06:37,07 --> 00:06:41,51 traditional interventionists am humanitarian intervention as the idea that the U.S. 94 00:06:41,52 --> 00:06:46,23 Should intervene at all is completely strange back there but of course the rest of 95 00:06:46,24 --> 00:06:51,48 the world recognizes that and I was in northern Iraq in the Kurdish region in 96 00:06:51,49 --> 00:06:57,22 August of last year when the bombing started and I wrote at the time that the U.S. 97 00:06:57,23 --> 00:07:02,01 Had no allies on the ground to fight door to door as would be necessary to retake 98 00:07:02,47 --> 00:07:08,41 territory and cities and the bombing would not accomplish their goals I'm sure how 99 00:07:08,47 --> 00:07:11,35 that's been the case and has been or calling or almost 100 00:07:11,36 --> 00:07:15,64 a year now and the but US continues to bomb and the Islamic State has become 101 00:07:16,31 --> 00:07:17,24 transformed from 102 00:07:17,25 --> 00:07:22,76 a very evil very dangerous group to the people of Syria and Iraq to 103 00:07:22,77 --> 00:07:27,68 a very evil very dangerous group danger to the whole world and it's 104 00:07:27,69 --> 00:07:28,89 a direct result of the U.S. 105 00:07:28,90 --> 00:07:33,53 Bombing and all the publicity they've given them now let's talk about it 106 00:07:33,54 --> 00:07:37,58 a couple of other attacks that took place last week and this is certainly 107 00:07:38,09 --> 00:07:40,99 consistent with what ISIS already announced that they announced essentially 108 00:07:41,00 --> 00:07:46,63 a month of disaster for non Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan that you know 109 00:07:46,64 --> 00:07:52,18 Muslims around the world celebrate and commemorate with 110 00:07:52,19 --> 00:07:56,74 a traditional month of fasting Inchy Newseum whose Arab Spring revolution was 111 00:07:56,75 --> 00:08:02,14 supposed to be the most successful full of various revolutions. Thirty eight people 112 00:08:02,15 --> 00:08:04,89 at least with killed in a primarily tourist area on 113 00:08:04,90 --> 00:08:10,10 a beach and I understand the way either one or multiple gunmen wielding 114 00:08:10,11 --> 00:08:14,61 a Kalashnikov in the resort town of Seuss' How could this have happened and why do 115 00:08:14,62 --> 00:08:20,74 you think ISIS attacked Turkey of course ISIS has killed. In gruesome ways before 116 00:08:20,75 --> 00:08:24,54 but this time it went after tourists you know I think first of all it's important 117 00:08:24,55 --> 00:08:27,18 to note that this is not an example of 118 00:08:27,19 --> 00:08:32,63 a coordinated our command and control situation where people sit in Iraq as Syria 119 00:08:32,84 --> 00:08:36,95 can issue orders around the world to carry out these attacks these are 120 00:08:37,20 --> 00:08:42,89 a target they are our general call is made and then individuals or small groups in 121 00:08:42,90 --> 00:08:48,42 various places take it upon themselves to. Carry out these horrific attacks are 122 00:08:48,43 --> 00:08:52,18 similar to what's happened in the United States at various times with individuals 123 00:08:52,44 --> 00:08:58,27 carrying out what they consider to be or. Attacks but it's not under the commanding 124 00:08:58,28 --> 00:09:03,70 control of ISIS you're quite correct and I've been in Tunisia it is of all the Arab 125 00:09:03,71 --> 00:09:10,28 Spring uprisings who has the most stable. After significant force in the 126 00:09:10,29 --> 00:09:13,88 politics of the country through the trade union students to move member through 127 00:09:13,89 --> 00:09:16,76 parliament. And but there's always been 128 00:09:16,77 --> 00:09:23,42 a huge danger from extremists. Political Islam and they are 129 00:09:23,46 --> 00:09:26,14 this most recent attack is an example that it wasn't 130 00:09:26,59 --> 00:09:27,89 a few months ago there was an attack on 131 00:09:27,90 --> 00:09:31,35 a museum there and as evil as this is there is 132 00:09:31,36 --> 00:09:35,16 a plan behind it which is they want to discredit tourism is 133 00:09:35,17 --> 00:09:40,85 a major force for the economy in Tunisia if they can discourage tourism of tourists 134 00:09:40,86 --> 00:09:45,30 from coming in it will hurt the economy it will cause instability and they hope 135 00:09:45,51 --> 00:09:49,98 allowing them to come to power but as an actual political force these extremist 136 00:09:49,99 --> 00:09:54,38 groups are very mobile supporting Tunisia and then there's the Kuwait attack twenty 137 00:09:54,39 --> 00:09:55,71 seven people killed when 138 00:09:55,72 --> 00:10:00,55 a Shiite mosque it was bombed in Kuwait and this of course. Even though it is 139 00:10:00,56 --> 00:10:07,25 a gulf country is a very prominent ally of the United States and has been and it's 140 00:10:07,35 --> 00:10:12,95 a country that ISIS as far as I know has not been able to carry out this kind of an 141 00:10:12,96 --> 00:10:19,20 attack in before how unprecedented is the ISIS attack on Kuwait Well keep in mind 142 00:10:19,21 --> 00:10:21,33 that these are all soft targets you grab is 143 00:10:21,34 --> 00:10:25,29 a good word bombing police stations or military operations where the U.S. 144 00:10:25,30 --> 00:10:29,72 Bases or some you know military targets you go after 145 00:10:29,73 --> 00:10:34,73 a mosque where people are not armed robbers are no guards and so on and of course 146 00:10:35,09 --> 00:10:39,36 for people who claim to be upholding political Islam who are they murder 147 00:10:39,37 --> 00:10:45,32 a fellow Muslims I mean it's absolutely outrageous Now as to the Sunni ISIS of this 148 00:10:45,39 --> 00:10:49,77 ISIS group that claims that they are Sunni supremacists Shiites they don't even 149 00:10:49,78 --> 00:10:54,15 consider Shiites Muslims exactly so anybody who doesn't agree with them in terms of 150 00:10:54,16 --> 00:10:59,37 religion or politics is an enemy and therefore subject to bombing by what the 151 00:10:59,38 --> 00:11:04,42 impact of this is to people who are Muslims in general around the world as 152 00:11:04,43 --> 00:11:09,82 a result of these tactics now let's talk about the fact that there was an incident 153 00:11:09,83 --> 00:11:11,46 in France where U.S. 154 00:11:11,47 --> 00:11:16,23 From chemical plant was attacked it's not clear if ISIS was behind this of course 155 00:11:16,24 --> 00:11:20,39 I'm sure it's happy to take credit for anything it possibly can there was an 156 00:11:20,40 --> 00:11:20,83 employee of 157 00:11:20,84 --> 00:11:26,39 a delivery truck trying to blow up the plant and that horror horrifically gruesome 158 00:11:26,40 --> 00:11:30,33 crime the head and the body of his boss found in the truck he was driving along 159 00:11:30,34 --> 00:11:34,26 with flags that look like ISIS flags What do you make of this of course ISIS has 160 00:11:34,27 --> 00:11:38,96 made it very clear that it wants to bring these attacks to western shores. And 161 00:11:38,97 --> 00:11:43,54 France has already you know had the Charlie Abdo attacks earlier this year which 162 00:11:43,55 --> 00:11:48,87 ISIS also claimed credit for you know I think we have to wait to see exactly who 163 00:11:48,88 --> 00:11:51,89 are more details on that attack in the U.S. 164 00:11:51,90 --> 00:11:56,46 Or her disgruntled worker attacks or post office or something like that going to 165 00:11:56,47 --> 00:12:01,47 answer the deranged individual where. You see. Two Asians is automatically assumed 166 00:12:01,48 --> 00:12:01,80 it must be 167 00:12:01,81 --> 00:12:05,62 a crazy Muslim or Summers or would similar part of some organized political party 168 00:12:05,63 --> 00:12:09,20 that it is if you're Muslim then you must be part of some terrorist international 169 00:12:09,21 --> 00:12:13,68 organization we simply don't know at this point in hope we will find out but it is 170 00:12:13,69 --> 00:12:19,52 true that there are you know needed immigrants from North Africa from countries 171 00:12:19,53 --> 00:12:25,66 like Nigeria or Tunisia and others in France who are alienated who are stuck in 172 00:12:25,67 --> 00:12:30,85 poverty and some of them turned to these extremist groups as an alternative now I 173 00:12:30,86 --> 00:12:34,42 want to bring up David Cameron because he's been quite vocal prime minister of the 174 00:12:34,43 --> 00:12:39,76 United Kingdom who in response to the attack into New Zealand where number of 175 00:12:39,97 --> 00:12:45,79 Britons were killed fifteen possibly thirty of those killed were were British 176 00:12:45,80 --> 00:12:50,67 citizens he has talked about striking back with 177 00:12:50,68 --> 00:12:56,19 a full spectrum of Spawn's against ISIS but this is exactly what ISIS wants in 178 00:12:56,23 --> 00:13:03,01 killing these British civilians. Tourists essentially and targeting the 179 00:13:03,02 --> 00:13:09,15 West it wants to draw the West in and Cameron is very much embracing the bait and 180 00:13:09,19 --> 00:13:10,29 this is also a sort of 181 00:13:10,30 --> 00:13:14,43 a dilemma for press you know for those of us in the media covering these issues on 182 00:13:14,44 --> 00:13:19,36 the one hand ISIS desperately wants attention and their dramatic and gruesome 183 00:13:19,37 --> 00:13:26,13 propaganda is designed to elicit disgust and anger on the other hand you know 184 00:13:26,32 --> 00:13:28,86 we can't ignore it how do you view as 185 00:13:28,87 --> 00:13:34,69 a journalist Reece these responses and what ISIS's is trying to do and you know the 186 00:13:34,70 --> 00:13:39,15 way in which it's trying to bait the world basically Well keep in mind that there 187 00:13:39,16 --> 00:13:44,96 are media coverage these days doesn't have the same impact it might over some years 188 00:13:44,97 --> 00:13:51,86 ago because Rice is very effectively uses face sort. ISIS very 189 00:13:51,87 --> 00:13:56,79 effectively uses Facebook and other social media to its advantage which of course 190 00:13:56,80 --> 00:14:03,47 has nothing to do with mainstream media coverage or even Pacifica type coverage so 191 00:14:04,42 --> 00:14:10,30 the I mean I think as journalists we have to cover what's going on and keep in mind 192 00:14:10,31 --> 00:14:14,22 that the vast majority of Muslims around the world not to mention everyone else 193 00:14:14,60 --> 00:14:19,77 horse these kinds of attacks but to solve the problem the military attacks are not 194 00:14:19,78 --> 00:14:25,22 going to do it alone you have to undercut them politically the British or U.S. 195 00:14:25,23 --> 00:14:31,76 And other countries have to change their policies stop the kind of military attacks 196 00:14:31,97 --> 00:14:34,18 stop Iran question support for Israel has 197 00:14:34,19 --> 00:14:38,78 a whole list of things that would undercut these groups politically and therefore 198 00:14:38,79 --> 00:14:39,83 lay the basis for 199 00:14:40,20 --> 00:14:46,21 a delay in death momentarily And speaking of Israel the latest freedom through to 200 00:14:46,25 --> 00:14:52,82 Gaza was just stopped by and there have been no casualties so 201 00:14:52,83 --> 00:14:59,03 far and Israel has traditionally in the past attacked them violently attacked such 202 00:14:59,04 --> 00:15:04,72 ships that have been trying to break the siege on Gaza violently finally as ISIS 203 00:15:05,20 --> 00:15:11,27 seems to have recovered from its minor setbacks over the past few months and as it 204 00:15:11,28 --> 00:15:12,84 enters its second year as 205 00:15:13,60 --> 00:15:19,24 a caliphate self declared caliphate what do you foresee for this summer while in 206 00:15:19,25 --> 00:15:20,65 the short run it's going to be 207 00:15:20,70 --> 00:15:26,41 a lot of our continued fighting the. Very difficult situation the 208 00:15:27,10 --> 00:15:28,42 bombing by the U.S. 209 00:15:28,43 --> 00:15:31,93 Britain and others it's not having the impact that they claimed it would but 210 00:15:31,94 --> 00:15:35,21 they're going to continue doing it which means more civilians continue to die 211 00:15:35,54 --> 00:15:40,76 Islamic state will have some setbacks or will have some directories I don't think 212 00:15:40,77 --> 00:15:41,58 there are there will be 213 00:15:41,59 --> 00:15:46,97 a decisive her battle in the ME in the media or I'm only bit more optimistic 214 00:15:46,98 --> 00:15:48,03 because I think there can be 215 00:15:48,04 --> 00:15:53,13 a political settlement both in. Or. Syria or destroy Iran there's going be 216 00:15:53,14 --> 00:15:53,79 a lot more hard 217 00:15:53,80 --> 00:15:57,76 a lot more ground well research look I want to thank you so much for joining us 218 00:15:57,77 --> 00:16:01,28 today and I'm sure we'll have you back on the show in the future always my pleasure 219 00:16:01,55 --> 00:16:02,58 my guest recently as 220 00:16:02,59 --> 00:16:05,56 a veteran foreign correspondent and we've been talking about the one year 221 00:16:05,57 --> 00:16:07,03 anniversary of ISIS He's written 222 00:16:07,04 --> 00:16:10,61 a number of books including conversations with terrorists Middle East leaders on 223 00:16:10,62 --> 00:16:13,40 politics violence and Empire His latest book is called Inside 224 00:16:13,41 --> 00:16:17,61 a Syria the back story of the Civil War and what the world can expect and 225 00:16:17,62 --> 00:16:21,47 a brief announcement by the way for our Southern California audience exactly 226 00:16:21,48 --> 00:16:26,72 a week from tomorrow Max Blumenthal will be coming to Southern California to 227 00:16:26,73 --> 00:16:30,76 present his latest book The fifty one day war ruin and resistance in Gaza it's an 228 00:16:30,77 --> 00:16:35,35 event organized by uprising I'll be interviewing max on stage and you can get 229 00:16:35,36 --> 00:16:41,03 tickets to this event at K P F K dot argy the funds that we raise from the savant 230 00:16:41,04 --> 00:16:43,04 will help keep the T.V. 231 00:16:43,05 --> 00:16:47,69 Production off uprising financially solvent and so we really hope that you come 232 00:16:47,70 --> 00:16:48,05 it's going to be 233 00:16:48,06 --> 00:16:52,91 a wonderful event poet surely will pay will also be performing again that is next 234 00:16:52,95 --> 00:16:57,94 Tuesday July seventh at the First Congregational Church in downtown Los Angeles you 235 00:16:57,95 --> 00:16:59,34 can get tickets at K.P. F.T. 236 00:16:59,35 --> 00:17:05,66 Dot Max is also going to be speaking this week for our KEEP IT audience July first 237 00:17:05,94 --> 00:17:10,47 at also the First Congregational Church and you can find out more about that event 238 00:17:10,69 --> 00:17:14,39 if you are in the Bay Area keep us dot org This is our prize and we'll be right 239 00:17:14,40 --> 00:17:14,70 back.