American Visitors To Syria Challenge Western Media Propaganda

Three Americans who have visited Syria multiple times amid the ongoing civil war provided detailed briefings this month to the McClendon Group at a special dinner presentation at the National Press Club.

The speakers presented their observations about the people, the government and the civil war in Syria that differ sharply with mainstream media accounts in Western and Gulf monarchy-controlled news media.

The presentation, “Syria: Three Personal Accounts,” was delivered on Oct. 12 to nearly 30 attendees of the McClendon Group, a speaker society named for the late White House correspondent Sarah McClendon that presents alternative views of important issues.

Virginia State Senator Richard Black, an attorney with a long military background in the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, Carla Ortiz a Bolivian-born film documentary maker and film star who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Janice Korthkamp, an American who describes herself as a “housewife” who felt obligation to learn more about the war-torn nation, gave first-hand reports of their experiences with the Syrian people, the Bashir al Assad government, and the civil war.

The adjoining photo shows the three, with Ortiz on the right.

Each speaker offered a unique and deeply personal account of their on-the-ground experiences, traveling around Syria, interviewing people from all backgrounds and walks of life, including many internally displaced persons, and meeting with military and humanitarian group officials.

First to speak was Black, who has visited Syria twice since 2014. He noted that his engagement in a personal effort to bring an end to the war, began with a letter he sent to President Bashir al Assad thanking him for the Syrian military’s defense and rescue of the Christian communities in Syria from the brutal terrorists’ torture and murders of that religious community.

He gave a long view of the war in Syria, noting that as far back as 2001, there were Pentagon plans for regime change in Syria, referencing the statements of former U.S. Army General Wesley Clark — former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR), shown at right in a file photo — that he had been told by high level U.S. officials of plans for regime change in Syria, as one of governments in seven Middle East countries that were to be overthrown.

Black also gave details of reports of U.S. smuggling weapons from the regime change effort in Libya in 2011 to Syria, directly into the hands of jihadi groups, including Al Qaeda, to overthrow President Assad. In pursuing this war, Black said, the U.S. adopted an “empire” policy that is alien to our nation’s true interests and which is aiding the very terrorists that attacked the U.S. on 9/11.

Following him was Ortiz, an internationally known actress, producer and philanthropist. Born in Bolivia, Carla began her acting career at age 15.

After achieving stardom in Latin America and Hollywood, she turned to documentary filmmaking and has produced several documentaries on the plight of the victims of the Syrian war, spending much of the past two years on the ground in Syria, visiting some of the most devastated war zones.