The Pentagon’s “Salvador Option”, Al Qaeda Government in Damascus

[This article was first published by Global Research. You may read it here.]

In mid-2024, the Western media was portraying former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Stephen Ford as a “moderate”, committed to supporting so-called “moderate mainstream opposition rebels”. R. S. Ford was upheld as a outspoken critic of US foreign policy, tacitly blaming the US State Department for gross mismanagement:

“I was no longer in a position where I felt I could defend the American policy… We have been unable to address either the root causes of the conflict in terms of the fighting on the ground and the balance on the ground, and we have a growing extremism threat.”… (quoted in Slate, June 3, 2014, emphasis added) How America Was Lost: ... Roberts, Dr. Paul Craig Best Price: $5.35 Buy New $2.99 (as of 10:30 UTC - Details)

R. S. Ford called upon Washington to support the moderates:

“We need – and we have long needed – to help moderates in the Syrian opposition with both weapons and other non-lethal assistance. … Had we done that a couple of years ago, had we ramped it up, frankly the al Qaeda groups that have been winning adherents would have been unable to compete with the moderates who frankly we have much in common with,” (Reuters,June 3, 2014, emphasis added)

Responding to Ford’s comments, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, “He’s a private citizen. He’s entitled to his views.”(Reuters,June 3, 2014)

Who Is Robert Stephen Ford?

In a bitter irony, Robert Stephen Ford is no “moderate” as portrayed by the media. He was from the very outset in January 2011 involved in carrying out the “extremism threat” scenario including the channeling of military aid to the Al Qaeda affiliated rebels, including Al Nusra.

I was in Damascus in mid-January 2011 when Robert Ford presented his credentials to President Bashar Al Assad. I was familiar with his role as “number two official” at the Embassy in Iraq under Ambassador John Negroponte.

Negroponte’s mandate as US ambassador to Iraq (together with Robert S. Ford) was to coordinate out of the US embassy, the covert recruitment and support to death squads and paramilitary groups in Iraq with a view to fomenting sectarian violence and weakening the resistance movement. Robert S. Ford as “Number Two” (Minister Counsellor for Political Affairs) at the US Embassy in Baghdad played a central role in this endeavor.

My hunch –which I conveyed to my friend, Ali, Prof. at Singapore’s NUS Middle East Institute– was that “something was to going to happen in the next few months.”

To understand Robert S. Ford’s mandate in both Baghdad and subsequently in Damascus, it is important to reflect briefly on the history of US covert operations and the central role played by John D. Negroponte (see text below).

In the months leading up to the March 2011 insurrection, Robert Stephen Ford was among the key architects involved in the formulation of a US “Terrorist Option” for Syria including the recruitment and training of death squads in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. (See details below)

In recent developments (May 15, 2025) France’s Le Monde, described Robert Stephen Ford’s as follows:

Translation of above:

Robert Ford, former US ambassador to Damascus: “In Syria, Al-Sharaa is the best tool for the United States against the Islamic State organisation”

The diplomat met with the new Syrian leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, on several occasions, the last time in Damascus, in January.

In an interview with “Monde”, he returns to Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions against Syria.

“Analyst at the Middle East Institute in Washington, Robert Ford is an experienced American diplomat familiar with the Middle East. In particular, he was the United States ambassador to Syria, under the Obama presidency, between 2011 and 2014.

In an interview with Le Monde, he welcomed Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions and his meeting with Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a former jihadist [Al Qaeda and leader of Al Nusra] who became interim president, after the fall of the Al-Assad regime. Robert Ford met with the new leader several times, including the last time in Damascus in January.

(Translated from Le Monde by Global Research)

The title of Le Monde is contradictory to say the least. Al Sharaa was from the outset a leader within Al Qaeda, ISIS, Daesh.

Robert Stephen Ford had no doubt met with Al-Sharaa, at an earlier stage of the US-led war when he was leader of Al Nusra. His jihadist name was Abu Mohammad al-Julani.

On May 1, 2025, Robert S. Ford at a presentation at the Baltimore Foreign Affairs Institute, revealed “a secret Western role in preparing Syria’s current president, Ahmad Al-sharaa—formerly known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani—for leadership”.

“During a lengthy discussion lasting over an hour at the Baltimore Foreign Affairs Institute, (BFAI) Ford—an expert on Islamist groups in the Middle East —disclosed that British intelligence agencies had requested his assistance in transitioning Julani from extremism to a more moderate path as part of a plan to integrate him into political leadership.”

The transcript of his presentation is not available. According to the BFAI,

“He continued to meet Syrians [aka Jihadists] at personal risk until the Obama administration closed the Embassy in February 2012. But he kept up his ties to the Syrian opposition [Al Qaeda ISIS Daesh] ever since, and when the regime fell last December, he was well plugged in with the force that took control, the HTS Islamist militia, headed by Ahmed al Sharaa.

In the words (until recently) of the U.S. Embassy in Syria: “We remain committed to bringing AQS [Al Qaeda in Syria] figures to Justice.”

[Image: Source: US Embassy Syria] 100 Deadly Skills: Sur... Emerson, Clint Check Amazon for Pricing.

The following text is based on a longer article first published by GR in August 2011 under the title The Pentagon’s “Salvador Option”: The Deployment of Death Squads in Iraq and Syria; as well as Terrorism with a Human Face: The History-of Americas Death Squads.

The article below was first published on June 6, 2014.

—Michel Chossudovsky, May 24, 2025

The Pentagon’s “Salvador Option”, Al Qaeda Government in Damascus.

The History of U.S.-sponsored Terrorism in Iraq and Syria

by Michel Chossudovsky

Click here to read the article.