Hijacked: America’s War on Terror Ends with Al-Qaeda Running its Own Commercial Airline

Few ironies stand as stark as the U.S. involvement in Syria—a misadventure that began under the auspices of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Initially designed as a broad mandate to pursue al-Qaeda and its affiliates following the 9/11 attacks, the AUMF became the legal linchpin for countless military engagements, including the Syrian Civil War. Yet, the perverse irony of this legal justification is manifest in the rise to power of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, an al-Qaeda stalwart, now presiding over a 'free' Syria. This irony underscores the broader implications of U.S. foreign policy, wherein efforts to combat extremism have, paradoxically, empowered one of its most notorious figures. Such outcomes challenge the credibility of American strategic objectives and highlight the unintended consequences of interventionist policies. American military might, financial resources, and strategic miscalculations facilitated the ascent of a man whose organization that is STILL designated a terrorist entity by the US State Department, the European Union, and the United Nations.

Al-Jolani’s story reads like a grim dossier on the unintended consequences of global counterterrorism. As the second-in-command to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), al-Jolani was instrumental in the group’s operations during the early 2000s. Following Zarqawi’s death and the evolution of AQI into the Islamic State of Iraq, al-Jolani was dispatched to Syria in 2011 to establish a foothold for al-Qaeda amidst the chaos of the Arab Spring. By 2012, he had founded Jabhat al-Nusra, becoming its emir and asserting the group’s role as the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. His organization swiftly gained notoriety for its battlefield prowess and ideological extremism.

The U.S. State Department wasted little time in designating al-Jolani as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in May 2013. This label was not mere bureaucratic semantics; it was an acknowledgment of his direct ties to al-Qaeda and his leadership in a group committed to extremist violence. Yet, three years later, al-Jolani sought to rebrand Jabhat al-Nusra as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, ostensibly severing ties with al-Qaeda. This move was widely dismissed as cosmetic—a strategic gambit rather than an ideological pivot. Despite this, the group continued to bear the hallmarks of its jihadist origins, maintaining a place on terrorist designation lists from the United Nations to the European Union, and, of course, the United States.

In a display of cognitive dissonance, American policy in Syria began to wade into murky waters. The rebranding of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham provided a thin veneer of respectability, exploited by U.S. agencies to justify indirect support. Through conduits like the Free Syrian Army (FSA), financial aid and military supplies flowed into Syria, often blurring the lines between moderate rebels and extremist factions. For instance, U.S.-supplied weapons, such as TOW anti-tank missiles, were frequently seen in the hands of Jabhat al-Nusra fighters, raising alarm about inadequate vetting processes. This lack of oversight not only emboldened extremist groups but also undermined the credibility of American-backed forces, leading to increased fragmentation among the opposition and weakening efforts to establish a unified front against Assad’s regime. Reports emerged of arms and funds reaching groups indistinguishable from Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, raising questions about whether this was a case of negligence or a calculated risk to undermine Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The irony grows more grotesque when one considers the evolution of al-Jolani’s role in Syria’s political landscape. By 2017, the U.S. State Department offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture. Yet simultaneously, entities within the U.S. intelligence and military apparatus saw Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and its successor, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as potential allies in the fractured Syrian opposition. Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, even suggested reconsidering the “terrorist” label applied to HTS, a testament to the moral and strategic quagmire engulfing international diplomacy.

As of 2024, the unthinkable has become reality. Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, a man whose career was forged in the furnace of al-Qaeda’s ideology, now presides over the de facto government in Syria. The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, accelerated by years of U.S. and allied interventions, paved the way for al-Jolani’s ascension. His administration even boasts a commercial airline, Syria Air, signaling a chilling normalization of a terror state. The ultimate irony lies in the connection to 9/11: two decades after al-Qaeda’s hijackers turned airplanes into weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. finds itself complicit in enabling that very network to establish its own state airline. Symbolically, this marks a grotesque inversion of the narrative that justified the Global War on Terror—from combating jihadist networks to inadvertently facilitating their governance and infrastructure. Practically, it underscores the catastrophic misalignment of U.S. policy goals, where the eradication of extremism has given way to its entrenchment, leaving a legacy of compromised credibility and regional instability. This surreal turn of events underscores the perils of interventionist hubris.

The consequences of this policy debacle are profound. Israel’s recent bombing campaign obliterated Syria’s air force, leaving Syria Air as one of the few remaining symbols of sovereignty. Yet, that sovereignty is now in the hands of a group whose history and ideology are antithetical to the values the U.S. purportedly sought to promote in the region. Al-Jolani’s group has openly declared that conquering Syria is merely the first step in their broader vision; their next objective is to march on Jerusalem and "liberate" the Palestinians. The specter of 9/11 looms large over this outcome, a reminder of how swiftly the moral high ground can erode when strategy gives way to expediency.

This saga should serve as a sobering indictment of nation-building and foreign entanglements. Assad’s regime, for all its authoritarian brutality, represented a known quantity. In contrast, the ascendancy of al-Jolani and HTS marks a leap into uncharted territory, where the governance of a fractured Syria is entrusted to those with a legacy steeped in terror. The U.S. intervention, justified under the 2001 AUMF, has come full circle in the most grotesque manner imaginable, culminating in the empowerment of an organization that stands as a successor to the very forces targeted in the aftermath of 9/11.

The lesson is clear: interventionism, particularly under the guise of moral imperatives, often yields results antithetical to its stated goals. Syria’s descent into chaos, exacerbated by American meddling, has birthed a geopolitical Frankenstein’s monster. It is a stark reminder that the road to hell is paved with good intentions—and occasionally, with military aid packages delivered to dubious allies.

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