Paul Sheldon Foote, an American university professor, says Saudi Arabia is the leading supporter of ISIL terrorist group, adding that the US and Israel have also provided the group with training and money.
“Large terrorist organizations need money and weapons. The leading supporters are the evil leaders of Saudi Arabia. America, Israel, and other countries have provided training, money, or other forms of support. Saudi Arabia and Western countries have provided some weapons. ISIL has been able to take weapons and money from the people of Syria and of Iraq because the local people are unable to defend themselves. If every family in the region owned weapons, ISIL would have found it much more difficult to succeed with only a few thousand terrorists,” Sheldon Foote said in an interview with Fars News Agency.
Paul Sheldon Foote is a professor at California State University, Fullerton. He is an author and commentator. He expresses opinions generally critical of Israel and its supporters in the US.
Foote is a critic of US neoconservatives and opposes war against Iran. Professor Foote has been an elected member of the Republican Party Central Committee in Los Angeles County from 1990 to 1992. In 1992, he was a conservative Republican candidate for the California State Assembly.
According to the biography published by opednews, he worked in Tehran at the American Embassy in 1970. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and studied Persian language at Harvard University. He has a Ph.D. from Michigan State University and a BBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. At his university website, he has published the papers “More Dual Loyalties”, “Republican Useful Idiots”, “Israel’s Terrorist History”, and ” Overcoming September 11th Intelligence Deficits”.
What follows is the text of the interview:
Q: The ISIL which controls parts of Syria sent its fighters into neighboring Iraq in June and quickly seized large swaths of territory straddling the border between the two countries. The militants have terrorized the entire Iraqi communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and Ezadis, executing a large number of civilians and soldiers. What do you think are the major objectives of the ISIL?
A: The major objective is to create a caliphate (totalitarian rule) for the entire world. These monsters have chosen swamps ideal for their success. To achieve their goals, they need to find regions where large numbers of people are ignorant. ISIL has engaged in crucifixions of Christians, stoning to death of women, and of large numbers of executions and forced conversions to Islam. This is a battle for the soul of Islam. So far, ISIL is winning. It remains to be seen whether there are enough decent Muslims remaining who can destroy ISIL. If not, the Islam is dead.
Q: Many analysts believe that the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is the product of the US polices in the Middle East. What’s your take on that? Do you believe that the Zionist regime is funding the terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria?
A: Large terrorist organizations need money and weapons. The leading supporters are the evil leaders of Saudi Arabia. America, Israel, and other countries have provided training, money, or other forms of support. Saudi Arabia and Western countries have provided some weapons. ISIL has been able to take weapons and money from the people of Syria and of Iraq because the local people are unable or are unwilling to defend themselves. If every family in the region owned weapons, ISIL would have found it much more difficult to succeed with only a few thousand terrorists.
Q: According to the latest reports, ISIL may have up to 6,000 fighters in Iraq and 3,000-5,000 in Syria, including perhaps 3,000 foreigners; nearly a thousand are reported to have hailed from Chechnya, 500 or more from Britain and hundreds of others from France, the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. What does this mean to you?
A: Many political leaders are very short-sighted. They make moves calculated to benefit them in the short run. President Obama’s decision to bomb ISIL in Iraq is evidence that even Zionists and Neo-Conservatives (Neo-Trotskyites) understand that these terrorists will return to Western countries. Some ISIL members have stated publicly that they will place America under their caliphate.
