Syria: We're told we're at war to fight ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State but in a Congressional hearing that took place the week before the Paris attacks, State Department officials were talking about a different goal. In this episode, highlights from that House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. What are we really doing in Syria? Executive Producer: Anonymous Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! The Syria War For context and background, please listen to Congressional Dish episode CD041: Why Attack Syria?, from August 2013. Audio Sources Hearing: U.S. Policy and Russian Involvement in Syria, House Foreign Affairs Committee, November 4, 2015. Video: Paris Attacks: 'Terrorists mentioned Syria and Iraq during Bataclan negotiations' YouTube: Obama Says Assad must to to end Syria war, PressTV News Video, November 19, 2015. YouTube: Obama No boots on the ground in Syria by USLAWnationalcoord YouTube: Leaked Call Between Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt Planning Ukrainian Government, late January 2014 Additional Information Syria Map: U.S. Department of Energy Report, June 24, 2015. Map: Syria Selected Energy Infrastructure, U.S. Department of Energy, updated June 24, 2015. Article: This map show where ISIS overlaps with major oil refineries by Elena Holodny, Business Insider, September 29, 2015. Map: ISIS' footprint across Iraq and Syria featuring oil infrastructure, Business Insider, September 29, 2015 Article: Your Official Mission Creep Timeline of the U.S. War in Syria by Micah Zenko, The Foreign Policy Group, October 19, 2015. Paris Attacks Article: France more active than rest of the west in tackling Syria by Ian Black, The Guardian, November 14, 2015. Article: What is France Doing in Syria? by David Graham, The Atlantic, November 15, 2015. ISIS Message about Paris Attacks: "Let France and those who walk in its path know that they will remain on the top of the list of targets of the Islamic State, and that the smell of death will never leave their noses as long as they lead the convoy of the Crusader campaign, and dare to curse our Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, and are proud of fighting Islam in France and striking the Muslims in the land of the Caliphate with their planes, which did not help them at all in the streets of Paris and its rotten alleys" Article: France Strikes ISIS Targets in Syria in Retaliation for Attacks by Alissa Rubin and Anne Barnard, November 15, 2015. Anne Patterson Biography Wikipedia: Anne W. Patterson Article: Ambassador Anne Patterson, the Controversial Face of America's Egypt Policy by Josh Rogin and Eli Lake, The Daily Beast, July 10, 2013. Article: U.S. Pilots Fight Coca in Columbia by Juan Forero, New York Times, August 17, 2001. Victoria Nuland Biography Wikipedia: Victoria Nuland Essay: Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy by William Kristol and Robert Kagan, Foreign Affairs Magazine (published by The Council on Foreign Relations), July/August 1996 Issue Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations