Nice Attack: Double Game and False Flag Operations are Interrelated

                                                            By Sajjad Shaukat

During Bastille Day celebrations, considered France’s Independence Day, a terrorist who used a hired lorry killed at least 84 people and injured more than 200 persons on July 15, 2016 in a rampage in the French city of Nice. The attack ended when police shot into the truck, killing the driver.

The authorities identified the truck driver as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a French national of Tunisian origin. A huge cache of guns, grenades and larger weapons and the terrorist’s identity papers were later found inside the lorry. 

Western media reported that a poster apparently created by the Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS, ISIL) supporters have been celebrating the attack, orchestrated to coincide with France’s most important national holiday—is being shared on Twitter.

Like the previous terror attacks in Europe and the US, including some other countries, this new one in Nice is also a false flag operation, arranged by some state actors and their intelligence agencies in order to achieve secret aims.

Various acts of terrorism show that without taking cognizance of the related-developments in the world, the general masses of a country and even some educated persons start blaming all the Muslims and the ISIS in this respect. Therefore, we need to go in-depth analysis to know who is behind the carnage in Nice. In these terms, as part of the secret strategy of some states, double game and false flag operations are interrelated.  

As regards terrorism, Machiavelli advises the rulers to have a lion-like image outwardly, and act upon the traits of goat inwardly. He also suggests them foreign adventures and the use of terror to obtain their goals. In his sense, a good ruler should be a good opportunist and hypocrite. While echoing Machiavelli, Morgenthau points out that sometimes, rulers act upon immoral activities like deceit, fraud, falsehood and even murder to fulfill their selfish aims.

Indicating double game, Morgenthau, and Palmer and Perkins opine, “Just as power became the instrument of ambitious nationalism and state’s leaders, it has now become the tool of ideologies. The true nature of the policy is concealed by ideological justifications and rationalization.”

If the double game of President Bush (The Senior) and George W. Bush franchised Al-Qaeda on global level, President Obama’s dual policy franchised both Al-Qaeda and ISIS as part of the anti-Muslim campaign and left no stone unturned in advancing the agenda of the Zionists, Israeli lobbies and the neoconservatives in the pretext of global war on terror.

Secretly, President Obama authorized CIA to create ISIS. His perennial covert support to the Israeli atrocities on the Palestinians, silence over the supply (Smuggling) of oil by ISIS to some European countries whose governments have also not taken action against those companies which were exporting oil from the ISIS-controlled regions of Iraq, CIA-assisted Al-Qaeda (Al-Nusra Front), ISIS militants and rebel groups who are fighting to oust Syrian President Assad’s government to obtain the aims of a greater Israel are part of the double game.

When Russian-led coalition of Iran, Iraq, the Syrian army-the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Lebanon-based Hezbollah had broken the backbone of the Mossad-CIA-backed ISIS terrorists, Al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front and the rebels in Syria and Iraq. Israeli Mossad which was already having clandestine contact with the ISIS directed this outfit to plan the November 13 terror attacks in Paris in connivance with the French home-grown militants. Similarly, Mossad used the ISIL terrorists who conducted terror assaults in Brussels on March 22, 2016.

After the false flag operations of Paris and Brussels, including the shooting at San Bernardino, California, Israel achieved its several sinister designs. Like the drastic aftermath of 9/11 tragedy, rulers and politicians of the US-led Western countries, especially of Europe, including their media have been misguiding their general public by creating chauvinism against the Muslims. They are propagating the so-called threat of Islamophobia. In one way or the other, the Muslims are being persecuted in the US and other Western countries, particularly in Europe which has been put on high alert, as these subversive acts were being taken as attacks on the whole continent. Owing to the irresponsible approach of Western leaders, right-wing parties and “Stop Islam” movement in the West, especially in Europe are becoming popular by largely attracting their people. Besides, Muslims in the continent are facing severe backlash in form of attacks on them and threats (In some countries) in wake of anti-Muslim protests. Without caring for human rights, several Muslim refugees have been expelled from various European countries.

Israeli-led America also got the support of its Western allies (NATO) against Russia in relation to Syrian civil war. As part of the double game, American jet fighters and those of its Western coalition started targeting the ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria

Besides, like France and Belgium, by ignoring Israeli protest, some EU member states were considering to officially recognize the  a state of Palestine and the EU pressure was growing on Tel Aviv to restart a negotiation process for the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

Meanwhile, Russian-supported Assad’s forces have retaken several territories from the control of the rebels and the ISIS terrorists who are on flee in Syria and Iraq.

Notably, Israel, India and Zionist lobbies which are clandestinely assisting America’s anti-Muslim, pro-Israeli, pro-Indian and anti-Pakistani Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee want to see him as the president of the United States. Trump who is well-known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric not only exploited the terror assaults of Paris and Brussels, but also the shooting at the gay night club in Orlando, Florida which killed at least 50 persons.

This false flag operation was exposed when on June 28, 2016, The New York Times wrote, “The mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on June 12 included a curious phrase:  false flag…the victims in the shooting? They were “crisis actors” hired to promote the story as a pretext to impose tighter gun restrictions, the theory goes…the term false flag relates to naval warfare when a ship would fly a flag that would conceal its true identity as a way to lure an enemy closer. Today, it is commonly a shorthand for an act of deception…conspiracy theorists have applied the label to high-profile attacks, including the shootings by a husband and wife last year in San Bernardino, Calif, that killed 14…the phrase has even been used to doubt the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.”

In an interview with Brazilian TV on June 14, 2016, the ex-wife of the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen Sitora Yusufiy disclosed that American FBI pressurized her to keep quiet about his homosexuality. Since the attack, Mateen has been dubbed an Islamic terrorist by the politicians, senior officials and commentators in the US, following reports he had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, as they wanted to downplay the personal and self-hating nature of the assault.

It is of particular attention that when acts of terrorism occur in the Islamic countries, Western media and rulers do not give much importance. Pakistan has faced several terrorism-related incidents which have killed thousands of the innocent civilians since 9/11 catastrophe. But, Western media have given little coverage to any terror-incident of Pakistan.

On July 2, this year, the double game of the US-led India exposed a false flag operation when the militants attacked on the Holey Artisan Bakery (Restaurant) in the diplomatic district of Dhaka and killed at least 20 hostages and two police officers, which includes most of the foreigners.  ISIL claimed responsibility for terror attack on the restaurant. But, without any investigation, Home Minister of Bangladesh Asaduzzaman Khan accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of the restaurant assault by adding, “There is no IS or al-Qaeda presence in Bangladesh. His statement was contrary to the country’s top officials who have claimed that ISIL exists in Bangladesh. On July 7, 2016, terrorists killed two policemen and a woman in an attack at Eid congregation in Kishoreganj, Bangladesh. The incident came, a day after the ISIL video on social media in which, three Bangladeshi youths appeared, threatening more attacks in the country. It also proves that Bangladesh’s home-grown militants have connections with the ISIL.  Availing the opportunity of the Dhaka restaurant attack, Indian media also began a campaign, accusing ISI. Indian secret agency RAW which is in collaboration with Bangladesh’s intelligence agencies and has been using the ISIL terrorists is behind the Dhaka restaurant attack to distort Pakistan’s image and ISI.

It is noteworthy that irresponsible approach of the US-led entities as well as double game of Turkey and Saudi Arabia has made the ISIL, the most dangerous militant outfit which has rapidly spread its tentacles in the US, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Middle East and Africa. Apart from previous terror assaults in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jakarta etc., ISIL is behind the recent bombings in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Yemen and Iraq.

It is also of particular attention that since the fundamentalist party BJP led by the Indian Prime Minister Narindra Modi came to power in India, it has been implementing anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan agenda. India which has strategic partnership with Israel has perennially been manipulating the double game of the US-led West regarding world phenomena of terrorism in connection with Pakistan and Afghanistan, while exploiting their anti-Muslim approach to obtain Indo-Israeli clandestine designs. Both Tel Aviv and New Delhi have been equating the ‘wars of liberation’ in Palestine and Kashmir with terrorism. Their main purpose is to divert the attention of the West from their own atrocities, while employing delaying tactics in the solution of these issues.

Nevertheless, there is a co-relationship of the double game and false flag operations, being conducted in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world. In this connection, on January 13, 2015, at least seven personnel of the Afghan security forces died during the suicide attack which targeted the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad. The ISIL claimed responsibility for the terror assault which coincided with efforts to restart the suspended peace process with Taliban insurgents. Pakistani sources suggested that Indian RAW was behind this terror attack to thwart these peace talks. On May 21, 2016, the CIA-operated drone strike killed the Chief of the Afghan Taliban Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Nushki, Balochistan province of Pakistan. After the incident, Afghan Taliban leaders refused to participate in the US-sponsored talks with the Afghan government. While, in the recent past, with the help of Pakistan, a series of meetings were held in Islamabad and Kabul among the representatives of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the US to develop an understanding for the earliest possible resumption of stalled talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban with a view to ending nearly 15 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan. It shows that America is playing double game with Islamabad. Undoubtedly, secret agents of CIA, Mossad and RAW which are well-penetrated in the ISIS, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are using the militants of these terrorist outfits to destabilize Tibetan regions of China, Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan, Pakistan’s province of Balochistan and Central Asia. In this regard, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is their special target.

It is worth-mentioning that the US-led West, especially Europe has already started a new Cold War with Russia. The US has decided to station permanently additional troops in Eastern Europe as part of NATO move to defend the continent against the presumed threat of Moscow. In response, Moscow also responded that it would send 30,000 Russian troops along its western and southern borders. Although Cold War has revived between the US-led West and Russia, yet some recent developments have disheartened the Zionist-Israeli-led America.

Britain’s decision to leave the EU after the referendum (Brexit) of June 24, 2016—UK itself could now break apart, with the leader of Scotland, where nearly two-thirds of voters wanted to stay in the EU, saying a new referendum on independence from the rest of Britain was highly likely. President Obama who was insisting upon London to keep aligned with the EU, as this separation “threatens to harm the U.S. economic recovery and distract U.S. allies from global security issues”, as he said on June 24. 2016. On the same day, Donald Trump stated, British voters just shattered political convention in a stunning repudiation of the ruling establishment in a referendum…in November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first…people want to see borders. They don’t necessarily want people pouring into their country.”

In wake of the British decision to leave the EU, it will be much difficult for the European politicians to discourage the general population, which is fed up with business as usual inside the EU. Notably, recent violent protests against the labour laws in France might be cited as instance, though the same were not related to the EU, but displayed peoples’ anger in relation to economic policies—the divide between the elite class which run multinational companies with the direct or indirect control of the Jews and the general masses who are suffering from multiple problems. Sooner or later, other EU countries which do not want to continue integration of their states to the European Union could also demand a similar referendum like that of the UK.  People in France, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and Austria are reluctant to maintain alignment of their countries with the European Union in wake of differences on the refugee crisis, Syrian war, Greece’s weak economy etc. Therefore, the European Union may disintegrate, giving a greater setback to the US-Europe alliance against Russia.

And more than 14 years have passed and the US-led NATO forces have been facing defeatism in Afghanistan. The ambush attacks on their military installations and personnel by the Afghan freedom fighters have continued, particularly, targeting American bases, check posts and armed persons. Especially, the US military personnel have been demoralized, as they are well-aware of the facts that they have been sent abroad—Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere in the world to maintain the supremacy of Israel, instead of protecting American national interests. The cost of the endless war is rapidly increasing, adding to the plight of ordinary citizens of the US and its Western allies. However, it is owing to the dual strategy of the US-led India, Israel and some Western countries that RAW, CIA and Mossad are conducting false flag operations also to divert the attention of American and Western public from multi-faceted internal problems, which are the result of prolonged war in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world.

A rift could be created between the NATO countries, which will give benefit to Russia, quite contrary to the Israeli secret interests.

Confused owing to his own double game and that of the US-led West, on May 8, 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has kept up his rebuke of European nations, accusing them of dictatorship and cruelty for keeping their frontiers closed to migrants and refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict. He clarified that “Turkey would not meet a EU demand for his country to reform its anti-terrorism legislation.” A rift has been created between the West and Turkey, the close ally of NATO. On February 10, 2016, President Erdogan lashed out at the US over its support for Syria’s main Kurdish group, saying, “The failure to recognize the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist group is creating a “sea of blood”. He explained, “The PYD, on which the US relies to battle so-called Islamic State in Syria, is an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party.”

Meanwhile, a Turkish military group claimed on July 15, this year that it had taken control of Turkey’s government, but, on July 16, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim stated that the alleged coup attempt had been foiled. Almost 200 people, including dozens of coup backers were killed and 2,839 military personnel were arrested, as pro-Erdogan forces said. Analysts opine that the rebellion was owing to the double game and flawed policies of Erdogan in relation to Syria and ISIL.

By neglecting American pressure, Erdogan who has taken steps in the end of June, this year to improve relations with Russia to strengthen its hand in fighting against militants, said the attack at the Istanbul airport should serve as a turning point in the global battle against terrorism. Reports suggest that Ankara is also considering a military agreement with Moscow.

Besides, by following the US double game, Syrian rebel groups on April 12, 2016 launched a major offensive on positions of the ISIS in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo. In order to show to the international community and Western public that America is fighting against the ISIS terrorists, US has accelerated air strikes on the ISIS-controlled regions. As per CIA directions, in Aleppo city, shell and mortar attacks by the Al-Nusra Front, ISIS and the rebel groups have continued on the Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud. ISIS has also continued firing rockets across the border into the Turkish town of Kilis. In the pretext, the Turkish military is retaliating with shell fire.

Recently, on June 26, 2016, Russian-backed Iraqi forces have recaptured the city of Fallujah. Following dual strategy, Pentagon welcomed the retaken of Fallujah, and the US Secretary of State John Kerry has offered Moscow to fight the ISIS terrorists jointly, in case Russia stops targeting the Syrian rebel groups. Nevertheless, it is due to skillful diplomacy of the President Putin that very soon, Syria will be liberated from the hold of the Israeli-led Western powers. Now, the scenario in Syria shows that the CIA-prepared plan-B of Syria’s partition will also fail.

Even, CIA-Mossad scheme to promote sectarian violence in Islamic World on larger scale, after creating a rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran could not succeed, as after the recent bombings in Saudi Arabia, Saudi people have started thinking about the double game of America and Israel, though Riyadh is also supporting the ISIL (The Sunni group) against the Syrian government and Yemen.

Some other developments also frustrated especially Israeli rulers. In this respect, besides a number of human rights groups, particularly Amnesty International in its press release on April 1, 2016 criticized, the controversial Turkish-EU refugee deal by pointing out, “Large-scale forced returns of refugees from Turkey to war-ravaged Syria expose the fatal flaws in a refugee deal signed between Turkey and the European Union…all forced returns to Syria are illegal under Turkish, EU and international law.”

In a speech to the Israel advocacy group J Street, American Vice President Joe Biden remarked on April 18, 2016, “I firmly believe that the actions that Israel’s government has taken over the past several years…the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalization of outposts, land seizures…are moving us and…Israel in the wrong direction.”

In wake of the EU rule to boycott goods produced in Israeli settlements on the West Bank, on March 21, 2016, in a speech in Utah, the only Jewish Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders had sparked controversy by saying, “The US should be even-handed and must not always say that Netanyahu is right.” He criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, condemning the expansion of West Bank settlements and blasting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s withholding of tax dollars from Palestinian authorities and called for an end to the economic blockade of Gaza. Earlier, in an interview with the New York Daily News on April 1, 2016, Sanders remarked about Israel with blood libel in relation to the August 2014 Israeli war in the Gaza Strip by explaining that Israeli forces bombed apartment houses and hospitals and “killed 10,000 Palestinian civilians…Israel’s force was more indiscriminate than it should have been.”

Obama Administration was pressing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to agree for the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. A majority of the intellectuals and analysts of the West have also been emphasizing upon the settlement of this issue. Even, non-Zionist Jews have started favouring the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

Although the presidential nominee of the Democrats Hillary Clinton is also Israeli agent, yet her criticism about contributions of election-campaign from Wall Street backers, email-scandal etc. have weakened her position. Therefore, Donald Trump best suits the interests of Tel Aviv. In an interview with the Daily Mail on May 2, 2016, Trump stated that Israel should continue construction of illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank. Trump is also against the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

It is mentionable that France was just preparing to lift its state of emergency which was put into place in the wake of the November terror attacks in Paris, and it would have expired later this month, but Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on July 15, this year that a bill to extend it would be submitted to parliament by July 16.

French investigating agencies disclosed that driver Bouhlel’s wife is in police custody, as officers question her about his alleged Islamist links. Bouhlel was reportedly not on a terrorist watch list and investigators are seeking to establish his motive—and are also looking for possible accomplices. Investigating sources also said that Bouhlel’s last appearance in a criminal court was as recently as March, when he was found guilty of violent contact. They added that despite this, he had no known links with terrorism and was not under surveillance—was an ‘unlikely jihadist’ who flouted every rule of Islam.

Nonetheless, it is owing to the above mentioned developments—the secret strategy of the US and Israel whose intelligence agencies CIA and Mossad have used the ISIL terrorists to conduct the deadliest terror attack in Nice. Most probably, by availing the vicious circle of terrorism, Mossad might have alone arranged this mass murder due to differences among the EU countries, refugee crisis and to fortify the US alliance with the Western countries, particularly Europe against Russia, to divert the attention of American public from internal problems, prolonged war on terror etc., and especially to avoid the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue and to ensure the success of Donald Trump in the US presidential elections of November.

In fact, fault cannot be laid on the general masses, a majority of whom are swayed by emotions, stereotypes and prejudices created by the political leaders who keep on manipulating any crisis for their own self-interests with the sole aim of getting their sympathies to increase their vote bank. There are equal strong pressures from religious and nationalist forces in wake of global war on terror which is dividing the world on religious lines. Therefore, instead of misguiding the people by creating phobia of Islam, the rulers and media of the US-led West and peace-loving people of every religious community, including Jews must show realistic approach for the peace of entire world. Otherwise, double game and false flag operations which are interrelated will continue culminating into “clash of civilizations”, as predicted by Huntington.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: [email protected]

Courtesy Veterans Today

Definitions: The contemporary term false flag describes covert operations that are designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by entities, groups, or nations other than those who actually planned and executed them.