‘US working to prop up terror in Mideast’

A political commentator says the West, and in particular the United States, has been working to prop up terrorism in the Arab world over the past few years.

Rodney Martin, a former US Congressional staffer from Los Angeles, told Press TV in an interview on Saturday that the West – the United States in particular – sees its “presence” in the Arab world “declining.”

Arab nations are able to self-govern, he said, adding that the United States keeps propping up terrorism since “there is no compelling case for US presence in the Middle East.”

Now the West wants to re-brand al-Qaeda as no longer “evil enough” to market a renewed long term military campaign in the Middle East, Martin stated.

The political analyst also commented on the US-led coalition against the ISIL Takfiri terrorists in Syria.

“If the US and Britain were serious about these types of entities they wouldn’t have funded them and armed them to destabilize and try to topple the government” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he said, referring to the ISIL militants.

Many political commentators are saying that a war on ISIL is a pretext for the United States to move in and protect its interests in the region.

On September 23, the United States and its Arab allies started targeting ISIL positions in Syria.

Warplanes from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates participated in the airstrikes.

The United States also struck ISIL positions in Iraq in August.

Washington has supported militants operating against the government of Syria since March 2011.

SC/HSN