Published On: Mon, Feb 18th, 2019

Shamima Begum (a clue might be in the name) and the inconvenient truth about ISIS

This last week a British “school girl” living in Syria created a huge media furore because she was a supposed “ISIS bride” and had expressed a desire to return to Britain. In October 2017, corporate-media stated into the record that there was a belief that, at that time, more than 400 British jihadists from Syria or Iraq had already returned “home”, and “many have ‘disappeared’ from the view of security services, who will not publicly confirm how many returnees have been jailed or are being tracked.” The emphasis has been added; for reasons that will become clear, the reader is asked to remember that  the British Government will not signal the degree of its cognisance with regards a number of people – and it is not a terribly huge amount – that, with all things being equal, should have been a priority for monitoring. Despite all the obvious ramifications of ISIS fighters returned and on the loose (or not), there has never been the same kind of media circus around that issue as has been generated by the spectre of the threat posed by the 19-year-old Shamima Begum.

So, it would take a retarded intellect indeed not to wonder at the discrepancy in the treatment of these cases: luckily for the British Government, most Britons know-it-all but know-nothing, and are ready to fly off the handle into gibbering responses at the first twitch of corporate-media incitement. If these people were not perpetually wilfully dumb, then, with the Begum incident, they would have yet another fabulous opportunity to explore and understand the relationship between corporate-media, Government agenda, and news items and their narratives.

First of all, perhaps the greatest inconvenient truth in the whole history of humanity is being revealed, by necessity, in corporate-media treatment of all things related to the defeat of ISIS in Syria. Shamina Begum, in a refugee camp in the north east of Syria, hoping and pleading for sympathy and to be repatriated to Britain, is the tip of a broader phenomenon of the displaced civilian “baggage” of ISIS: women and children, and unborn babies (as in the case of Begum – or so she claims). In covering this phenomenon, the corporate-media has had to reveal the truly international nature of ISIS: 5,600 former ISIS fighters have left the area and returned to 33 different countries – according to the same Independent article linked to above. Begum married a Dutch Muslim convert; the two girls she supposedly travelled to Syria with were married to an American and an Australian – the latter nicknamed the “Ginger Jihadi”. We learn, in this expanse of revelatory coverage, that the nationality of ISIS fighters in Baghuz, its last remaining pocket east of the Euphrates, is “prominently” French and Iraqi.

Back in 2015, in an FBEL article, titled Targeting Assad through the Islamic State: the great hoax of 2014, recorded how ISIS had been formed from al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and also from elements of the Libyan al-Qaeda affiliate (the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – LIFG) that were transported into Syria immediately after the overthrow of the Gaddafi government. AQI were also the Free Syrian Army (FSA): these were the hat-swapping originals. On some days, when meeting US Senator John McCain, for instance, they were the FSA, on other days (when beheading captives and pulling off other atrocities to invite US military involvment) they were ISIS. Ultimately, ISIS was in Syria to help establish the impression of Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) military prowess by putting up a plausible amount of resistance, and then doing deals, retreating, and handing off territory. ISIS didn’t get beaten east of the Euphrates, it got out of the way when required. How else can 5,600 ex-ISIS fighters evacuated out of the region be otherwise explained? More proof of the pudding comes in the eating: the gold that ISIS is commonly acknowledged to have looted from parts of Syria and Iraq has reportedly been handed over to US-led forces in Syria. While ISIS as collectors of filthy lucre for the US is the sort of news that never reaches the flocks of corporate-media grazing sheeple, the inconvenient truth that must be revealed (whether it be appreciated or not) – and with no comment regarding its own previous deceptive reporting – is that ISIS is and was undoubtedly a foreign invasion, and never originated in Syria.

The next step in a thought process belonging to a conscious human being would be to realise that these foreigners would have had to have been recruited and organised. Who would have the resources to do that in thirty-three different countries? To assist those who might have been wondering about the motivating origin for an invasion of Syria, the Hong Kong Phooey President waded into the Shamima Begum issue by declaring that Britain should accept returning ISIS characters so as to bring them to justice (or else, please note, they will “wreak havoc on the west”). All things being equal, one could say that it has escaped the notice of Trump, and other figures in the British Establishment promoting the same idea (ex-British army chief Richard Dannatt in this particular case), that most British Jihadists have already returned “home”. However, with Trump being excused as a proven moron, it would be safe to say that the British Establishment is bright enough to know that, as for bringing returning British Jihadists to justice, the ship has very largely already sailed.

And so, it wouldn’t be the first time around here that an accusation has been levelled at the British Government to the effect that it has been silently redeploying its assets out of Syria and Iraq for future projects. In January 2018, in the FBEL article, Happy accident? Possible redeployment of terror assets (the continuation of); launch of “anti-terror super squad”, the following was written:

If one accepts that the US and the UK have trained and armed jihadists for a role in the invasion of Syria – for which there is reams of evidence even in corporate-media to show that this is a truth – and that they have indeed become assets, then it would be unreasonable to expect such investment to be squandered. ISIS in particular have, in the course of the aggression against Syria, been airlifted by the US military out of the way of advancing Syrian and allied forces on multiple occasions (that we know of), so it has been established that these mercenaries are considered valuable enough to salvage.

Now applying critical thinking to Shamima Begum, who, being ISIS, is also an asset of the British Government (whether she realises it or not), and the circus created around her plight that is a very far cry from the treatment given to the silent redeployment of those of her compatriots who have served as soldiery, can we suppose that the purpose would be to create a climate whereby those British fighters of ISIS, who are yet to, can return under a little bit more of a glare of publicity? Or, because a good deal of them are already in the country, could this exercise merely be about creating a wider appreciation of a returning menace? After all, ISIS cannot be a threat to mainland Britain if no one has been forewarned of their existence there.

The message for the idiots aside, for those few who have been following events in Syria, Begum is potentially very significant because she reminds that ISIS were absolutely operating with British military oversight.  When Begum was first interviewed by the same people who brought us the legend of Huang Lei (who is possibly British Army, as it turns out†), The Times, and by the “journalist” Anthony Loyd, she said that she had been in al-Kiswah “just before they took [it]”. While there very well could be a town in Raqqa province of that name, the al-Kiswah, or Kissoué or Kiswe (Kiswa) that most people would have heard of is in Rif Dimashq Governorate – or Damascus.

(Click on image to magnify)

As a 2011 BBC article shows, there was trouble at Kiswah right at the onset of the invasion of Syria. Now there is a much clearer picture of how sparks were set to fly by outside forces to ignite the appearance of a civil war, we should note with interest that the BBC reportage just mentioned refers to how “Syrian state TV blamed unidentified gunmen for some deaths.” These, perhaps, would be the foreign snipers – Britons even – who have a long and well documented history of such operations at the commencement of schemes to overthrow sovereign governments.

For a long while into the invasion, just as lots of other territory in the same general area was besieged, Kiswah was split in two, with government forces controlling the north, and surrounding the south which was controlled by two “rebel” factions:

The Islamic Union of Ajnad a-Sham [or the Islamic Union of the Soldiers of the Levant] is an alliance encompassing several local Islamist brigades that receives external funding, likely from Saudi Arabia. The second is Liwa al-Haqq, a smaller local outfit that only receives “internal support from the residents [of the area],” Abu Muhammad, a spokesman for Liwa al-Haqq, told Syria Direct.

(Source).

Occupied suburbs of Damascus were taken as part of a series of operations which saw Ghouta and then Daraa finally fall to government forces in 2018. Opposition forces surrendering in these battles were mostly transported to Idlib, but others were supposed to have gone to the deserted Syrian steppe (or Badiyah) in the central southern part of the country. In a previous FBEL article, Given that “our boys” are ISIS, who is responsible for the Suweida massacre?, it was shown how the US/UK occupation of Syria could exercise control and influence for movement of ISIS in this area out of the al-Tanf base situated on the Jordanian border‡ (given that our boys are ISIS). If Begum was in Kiswah in Damascus province, and she was discovered in north east Syria (apparently in the refugee camp of al-Hawl), then presumably – ultimately – she came via al-Tanf.

But we must be careful. Because The Times says that it found Begum in Syria, it doesn’t mean it is true. To pluck an example randomly out of the air, the interview could have taken place at the meeting hall of the Bethnal Green detachment of the Army Cadets for all anyone knows. It is very interesting that, in these days were video is everywhere, her interview was recorded by Loyd in audio form. At that point, how did anyone know that the voice on the tape belonged to Shamina Begum other than taking a “journalist’s” word for it? And yet the big brouhaha and hullabaloo was already in full swing.

Since then, Sky news have also visited al-Hawl – apparently – and spoken to a woman dressed in the usual medieval body-covering garb, with only the face on view. Presumably there is a video this time, although the author hasn’t seen it. There are images, and one can see a transcript of an interview – Begum doesn’t really elaborate on the information already submitted. The claim is, however, having been imminently due with a pregnancy, she has now given birth. Of course, no one has to believe any of it, especially by the looks of that bundle held by another woman with her features entirely covered. Not being able to find an image of the infant on the internet, the author is left wondering if the personnel of the Sky TV crew, headed up by  correspondent John Sparks, seriously sat through an interview without checking that the bundle actually had a baby in it.

Predictably, a new talking point has emerged in Britain, on day time TV, so that all the basic questions that an idiot should ask, but naturally doesn’t, remain unlooked for and unheard of: Begum’s offspring to be adopted by another family. Discuss.

Sham Mimer Beg Them, anyone? Also please note the headline of a follow-up Sky piece about a “Tania Joya”, originally from Harrow, who “escaped Syria while pregnant and with three children” and now lives in the US, presumably on the basis of her marriage with an American ISIS fighter (a “Muslim convert who became one of Islamic State’s leading militants” no less):

‘It’s all a lie’: British IS bride who escaped while pregnant speaks out

 

Update, date as published, 23:00:

With no more, apparently, to go on than an image of another black-sheet-clad woman clutching something that looks suspiciously like a bundle of cloth – and not an infant issued into the world by any woman let alone a casual-looking Shamima Begum – there is now an attempt to stoke controversy about a name: “She has called him Jarrah, which means ‘able fighter’ or ‘one who wounds’ in Arabic.” The Daily Mail tells its readership that it is the name of a 7th century “Islamic warlord who massacred infidels”.

A rose by any other name, of course – and if “Shamima’s baby” was named by the Arabic for “rolled-up towel” there would still be a lot of idiots getting up in arms about it, and the usual agent-provocateurs provoking them to it.

Update, 19/02/19:

A new development, on this date, that perhaps points the way to what this operation is fundamentally for. The Telegraph reports that the British Government is looking at rewriting “ancient treason laws”. The necessity to do so is framed in terms of prosecuting “returning jihadist fighters and their supporters”. However, already there is no care to show any restraint about casting the net further afield:

Sajid Javid [the Home Secretary] said that the idea of updating 650-year-old legislation to catch more home-grown extremists was “worth looking at carefully”.

As the FBEL reader will know, an extremist is also someone who doesn’t like unconstitutional Government. This stuff would prove to be the height of perverse irony.

Update, 20/02/19:

Shamima Begum has had her British citizenship revoked – despite precedent extant from a similar case, which can be read about at the Independent, where a radicalised mother returned from Syria in 2016.

That the UK Government is not playing straight is more evidence of a psyop that has now gone into overdrive, generating multiple points of division. The most dangerous split, ahead of the “Tommy Robinson” circus about to appear in Salford (and the reader may have noticed that the Manchester Arena false flag of 2017 has been skilfully dragged into the issue via a BBC interview with Begum), is rabid anti-Muslims versus those who think that the Tory executive is pandering to rabid anti-Muslims.

The author’s sympathy is with the crowd who are pointing out that revocation of citizenship because “Government doesn’t like you” bodes very ill indeed. Even though this case is a complete game, we should see an appeal, and an overturning of the decision so that Government avoids some very shaky ground – but by then, of course, many an idiot (and this is most people) will have been made angry one way or another.

Update, 09/03/19:

Reports today that Shamima Begum’s baby is dead: “He died from pneumonia, according to a medical certificate seen by the BBC”. The corporate-media told you, so it must be true. Meanwhile,

The SDF [US(/UK)-controlled Syrian Democratic Forces], in a now deleted tweet, earlier dismissed unconfirmed reports revealed by Ms Begum’s lawyer Tasnime Akunjee that the baby had died.

The only image that the author can find to indicate that “Rolled-up-towel” was ever a real human infant is the one attached below [it was used in the Standard article linked to above, but the author has noticed it on the internet prior to this. It could well be the only image in existence that purports to show evidence in support of the claim that Begum had given birth].

Apparently produced by ITV, this image certainly wasn’t circulating any time soon after the Sky interview that features in this article – a new reader might not understand that this could indicate the image is evidence produced after the fact in response to scepticism. Of course, as harsh as it may be to do it (at least, if all things were above board), it must be noted that this development paves the way for Begum to be “returned to Britain”. As we know, the British Government is pretty officious when it comes to documenting, institutionalising and interfering with new serfs born on the land. With the baby dead, Begum will not now attract the same level of scrutiny from the welfare state as she would have. Remember, there was a good deal of talk of (to paraphrase) “Begum’s baby providing a back-door for her repatriation”.

Update, 22/02/23:

Four years almost to the day of the publication of this piece we hear that the Special Immigration Appeals Commission upheld the revocation of Beg’em’s citizenship.

Now, consider what was said in the update of 20/02/19 about the decision being overturned at appeal because of the shaky territory entered into by not doing so, and this:

Sky News correspondent Alistair Bunkall says the ruling is quite surprising.

“The security that I spoke to ahead of the ruling did feel that probably she would have her British nationality restored because the feeling was that perhaps it was legally untenable to keep it revoked.

“So I think in that respect it is a surprise.”

Not surprisingly, then, Beg’em’s legal team (because she can apparently afford one) has announced that the “legal fight [is] nowhere near over”, and that “there’s no limit to the challenges” to be made against the decision. So, the theatre is set to continue. The author predicts that ultimately, after UK Government gives a damn good show at maintaining the safety and security of the UK (don’t look at those boats arriving illegally full of Albanian proxy army), Beg’em will have citizenship restored, because it must be seen to happen. However, one mustn’t forget that in this psychological operation, the outcome is irrelevant in terms of setting precedent – which is the most important issue (especially over the fate of one UK intelligence asset) – because some nuance can always be found to make it a unique case different to anything that can follow.

 

† The matter for another long-overdue article.

‡ We might suppose, by the clearing out of ISIS east of Euphrates at long last, that the Syrians have been able to take control of the Badiyah to the extent that the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) has given up hoping to have ISIS bust out of its Euphrates containment and into the region – and therefore to create the pretext for a US-backed forces occupation of the Jordanian border.

 

Featured image by Sky News

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Have Your Say
  1. There is little doubt your journalism is of the highest quality and your analysis of events covered better than most. However referring to Joe public as “idiots” is unhelpful in the extreme. The average person in every country is raised into and lives under an existing order of things which for the most part they have no say in altering or challenging. On that basis people tend to look at the evidence. Where the UK is concerend Tommy Robinson’s supporters, and many more people (Fidelis) who are not, are more than aware of the treachery of the BBC, of Government Ministers/Members and of other cryptos. They are equally alert to the ridiculousness of inviting into the Nation people who are exercising the operating principles associated with a foreign constitution, which by its own terms and conditions labels Fidelis as harbe (enemy) and enacts anti-harbe behaviours wilfully. To label people opposed to such insurgent activity as idiots is actually despicable, and is no less treacherous than the likes of which you admirably expose.
    The fact is millions of people are now sick and tired of ME politics, religions and petro-dollars; are sick of their daughters being raped and their towns being turned into mini Beirut’s; are fed up with crypto Political commentators and out and out Traitors (i.e. the dozens of MP’s and others who signed their names to the MPGB instrument aka the UAF. The founder of the MPGB (former Guardian Journalist Kalim Siddiqui) stated in a South African Conference (1996) “basic jihad” should be used to unsettle the “very small white minority, European minority living in Western Europe and North America”, and his “moslem manifesto” (1990) makes it clear moslems in the UK are, as per islamic “sacred law” [e.g. BOOK O; Umdat As-Salik], obligated to perform “basic jihad” – quoting aforementioned manifesto “to participate in jihad: this participation can be active service in armed struggle abroad and/or the provision of material and moral support to those engaged in such struggle anywhere in the world…” Presumably this includes on the mainlands of host Nations, including the UK.
    You are correct to say the UK public is largely misinformed. But you are wrong to assume the only information they need to know is that which you offer. The only People I trust are Fidelis; that is to say those Faithful to Britain, its laws, its customs and its genuine inhabitants, they being those who do not wish to see it become islamised, which as you must be aware actually means arabised..