Russia's Strikes Shed Light on Inconvenient Truths of US' Anti-ISIL War

US officials have lifted the veil of secrecy surrounding a "successful" operation aimed at halting the flow of US cash into the hands of ISIL, however they remained silent about the fact that instead of dealing a blow to Islamic State their efforts plunged Iraq into crisis, Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge notes.

Washington's official efforts to prevent the infamous Islamic State from robbing the Iraqi Central Bank's vaults resemble much of the Pentagon's efforts to restrain ISIL's advance by dropping tons of ammo in the deserts of Syria, Tyler Durden, an analyst for the financial website Zero Hedge, notes, labeling the moves a "truly epic farce."

Citing Western media sources, Durden narrated that it turned out that in summer 2015, Islamic State could have received millions of dollars in cash through Iraqi financial firms called "exchange houses."

According to the analyst, US dollars were delivered to the Iraqi Central Bank from the Fed on a regular basis and then sold in daily auctions to thousands of so-called exchange houses. The Iraqi financial firms' activities raised Washington's suspicions: purportedly, some of them poured the American currency into Islamic State's vaults.   

In order to halt the cash flow "the US cut off Iraq's access to dollar funding, nearly plunging the country into crisis," Durden explained.

"We find it particularly amusing that the US is apparently so concerned about supplying Sunni extremist groups with dollars that Washington is willing to push Baghdad to the precipice of crisis in order to cut off the flow. After all, supplying Sunni militants with money and weapons is the whole strategy in Syria and has been from the beginning," the analyst underscored with heavy irony.

Instead of pushing Iraq to the brink of financial catastrophe, the US policy-makers should focus on the Saudis and Qatar, who, with tacit approval of Washington, have been funding Sunni extremists in Syria and Iraq for years.

Durden called attention to the fact that Washington's "concerns" about the fact that lots of weapons have found their way into the hands of ISIL jihadists sound no less ludicrous.

"Yes, the US is so worried about that possibility that the Pentagon embarked on a $500 million effort to arm "properly vetted" fighters earlier this year and has now resorted to paradropping hundreds of tons (literally) of ammo and weapons into the middle of the desert and hoping the Kurds pick them up," the analyst emphasized.

"Meanwhile, the CIA has funneled a completely unknowable amount of money and arms to a mishmash of Syrian Arabs battling the regime," he added, stressing that it is impossible to predict where those weapons will end up.

Who is benefitting from such a farce and hypocrisy?

The crux of the problem is that Russia's Syrian military campaign sheds light on the inconvenient truths of the US-led anti-ISIL operation, analyst noted.

"If the US electorate ever gets anything that even looks like definitive evidence that Washington is knowingly supporting the group that's been held up as the scourge of humanity there'll be a public outcry the likes of which America hasn't seen since Vietnam," Durden stressed.

So, Washington must demonstrate that its anti-ISIL fighting machine is up and running.

Durded added with a touch of sarcasm that the Pentagon should consider giving some ammo to Iran-backed Shiite militias operating in Iraq — it would have proved far more efficient.