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U.S. Humanitarian Aid Going to ISIS, Aid NGOs Employ ISIS People

(Daily Beast) Jamie Dettmer - Truckloads of U.S. and Western aid have been flowing into territory controlled by Islamic State jihadists. The aid, meant for displaced Syrian civilians, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, European donors, and the UN. The aid convoys have to pay off ISIS leaders in order to enter eastern Syrian extremist strongholds. "The convoys have to be approved by ISIS and you have to pay them: The bribes are disguised and itemized as transportation costs," says an aid coordinator. The kickbacks are paid by NGOs tasked with distributing the aid, or by Turkish or Syrian transportation companies contracted to deliver it. Moreover, aid coordinators say ISIS insists that the NGOs employ people ISIS approves on their staffs inside Syria. "There is always at least one ISIS person on the payroll; they force people on us," says an aid coordinator. "A few months ago we delivered a mobile clinic for a USAID-funded NGO," says one aid worker. "The clinic was earmarked for the treatment of civilians, but we all know that wounded ISIS fighters could easily be treated as well. So what are we doing here helping their fighters, who we are bombing, to be treated so they can fight again?"
2014-10-22 00:00:00
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