Secretly all year the US State Department and CIA have been holding clandestine meetings with dozens of Syrian “Rebel Leaders”, funding them, arming them, coopting them, sizing them up, preparing them to take over.

The long ago neocon-hijacked organization called THE U.S. INSTITUTE FOR PEACE is the body organizing everything. It is in effect an arm of the State Dept, CIA, US Congress, and less directly the Israeli Lobby. Read MiddleEast.Org and WashReport.com daily to keep informed not just with news but with critical insights and analysis.

One group coordinated by USIP is writing what will be the new Syrian Constitution. Another group is debriefing everyone to know who can be counted on, who can be co-opted and blackmail, who should be undermined and pushed under. Still another group is charged with recommending who shuold get money and arms. And another is coordinating the massive anti-Syria anti-Hezbollah anti-Iran disinformation campaign.

Despite Obama’s and Clinton’s deceptive rhetoric all USIP groups have been working intensely against the Kofi Annan plan with the aim of making any political settlement being pushed by the Russians and others impossible. Ths US/Israeli goal all along has been nothing less than regime change first in Damascus, then in Beirut, then in Tehran. The Saudis and Qataris are desperate for the same result — but for different and more complicated reasons they are providing considerable money and weapons.

Notorious Saudi Neocon Prince Bandar bin Sultan is coordinating everything for the Saudis and has just pushed through his full appointment as Saudi Intelligence Chief. For years he has been working to position himself as eventual King once the current generation of ibn-Saud sons is no more.