Mike Harris: People who fund terrorists need to be brought to justice

Mike Harris, editor of Veterans Today in Oregon, was interviewed by Press TV on the US declaring that Daesh is committing “genocide” against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria.

A rough transcription of the interview follows.

Press TV: Why is it that it had to take so long for the US to actually declare the Daesh or ISIL atrocities in Iraq and Syria are essentially genocidal and what has changed really since before?

Harris: What has changed is the Russians came in, it was September 28th, 29th, and in five months they accomplished more than the US accomplished in five years as far as actually fighting terrorism. So I think that is the change and now this past week the Russians have announced that they are withdrawing some of their forces from Syria and I think that the US sees an opportunity here to perhaps save face and the US looks really bad because they have been so inept in their attempts to fight terrorism, well let’s say.

Press TV: Do you think following this declaration it will have any effect whatsoever on how essentially Washington will from here on deal with terrorists such as Daesh?

Harris: I hope so. The issue here has always been the Jihadis who are in the field. They do not buy their own weapons, they do not buy their own food, they do not buy their own vehicles. It is supplied to them by someone. So find out who is supplying the material support.

If the US really wants to get tough on the war on terror, go after those people, the ones who are funding it, the ones who gave the initial seed capital to get Daesh and ISIL started. You go, you track those people down, that is the real enemy. These Jihadis, they are just pawns but it is the people who fund it, the people who provide the financing, those are the ones who are the real targets, those are the ones who are really the enemy that need to be hunted down and brought to justice.

Press TV: Speaking of those behind it, in the process of any probe whatsoever by the ICC, the US and its allies just might happen to be implicated in any crime that groups such as ISIL or Daesh or what have you might have been committing so far. Do you think Washington essentially is ready for that or will it be like many other cases in the past that we have had many of them in which the West that is the US mainly has exerted pressure, international pressure, to essentially influence the outcome of such a probe?

Harris: That has been the ongoing pattern of the US. They do not want to get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. We know Turkey is involved, we know Saudi is involved, we know Israel is involved. There are elements of the US that have been very proactive in supporting ISIS and Daesh, namely Senator John McCain, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was in Syria. We have photographs of him meeting with the leadership of ISIS.

I think that this probe needs to be very aggressive and if the US cannot make the probe, other countries should, and if this goes to The Hague for instance, John McCain may be facing some treason charges for his actions here, his act of support of terrorism and of genocide. There is a lot of bad actors in the US government and the US needs to clean house and get rid of these people.

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