Saturday, December 03, 2016

How Charles Lister documented the Syrian regime's role in the creation of ISIS and Al-Qa`idah

This is not a joke.  And shame on Oxford University Press (one of my favorite publishers with whom I have had good relations as a teacher) for publishing this less than journalistic book.   But since the release of the trashy Daily Beast "investigation" about Syria (which should have been titled: Series about Chatter in Istanbul cafes), Charles Lister has been promoting on Twitter his book about ISIS and his chapter about the role of the Syrian regime in the creation of ISIS.  This is how exactly Lister documents his theory that Abu Al-Qa`qa` (of course, he screws up the name consistently in the book) was created by the Syrian regime, he says: "Certainly, in the days and weeks following his death, commentary across the Middle East was obsessed with the issue of the ISI being a creation of a hidden, mysterious and all-powerful intelligence bodies, including Syria's". (p. 43, of Lister, Charles, The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State And the Evolution of An Insurgency).  But what is the source of Lister's "all over the Middle East commentaries?  Here it is: Endnote 35: Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashed, "The Killing of Abu Al-Qaqaa` (sic), Ash-Shraq Al-Awsat, 3 October 2007, p. 398 of the book. Kid you not.