Retired Bigfork general talks about Egypt, Syria

Paul Vallely helped start the Glacial Forum because people have a thirst for knowledge.

He tried to help provide some of that knowledge Thursday at Sykes’ Restaurant in Kalispell.

Valley, a former general who ended his military career  in 1993 as commander of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, spoke before a standing-room-only crowd.

Vallely’s talk was centered on what he calls the “chess board,” i.e. the Middle East.

Vallely has made several trips to the area over the past couple years and has spent time in Turkey, Syria and Egypt.

He flew into Istanbul, Turkey and crossed the border into Syria to meet with 45 rebel commanders and 10 generals in the Free Syrian Army.

“I showed them how to set up sniper teams to take out aircraft,” he said. Shortly afterward, the Damascus airport was closed to international flights.

Vallely was accompanied by 400 Syrians through 20 check points on one of his trips, he said.

While on his way back to the Turkey/Syria border, Vallely said his convoy of Toyotas would travel for one hour and then stop and turn out their lights for an hour. Vallely said he was told this happened because the Syrian Air Force was looking for him. Vallely’s group started and stopped several times before crossing back into Turkey illegally through a cornfield, he said. They were unable to cross at the official border crossing because it was closed for the evening.

In responding to a question about the use of sarin gas on the Syrian people Aug. 21, Vallely said that President Bashar al-Assad was responsible. “I tried to cross (into Syria) the day it occurred,” he said. “We couldn’t get across.” Valley said al-Assad is “a tyrannical guy just as bad as Hitler.”

Vallely said the U.S. doesn’t need to put conventional forces in Syria. The Syrian rebels need bullets, guns, food, medicine and intelligence, he said.

Vallely previously said that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is made up of Islamic extremist elements, has a strong presence in Syria that has “bought off” Gen. Salim Idriss to be the “figurehead” leader of the Free Syrian Army, even though he has never truly commanded military forces.

Vallely said he visited with Idriss and with the commander of the “true Syrian Free Army,” Col. Riad El Asaad, along with other top commanders who have defected from Assad’s military.

Visit to Egypt

Vallely said he flew to Egypt four weeks ago and describes spending “a very intense 72 hours” there. While there Vallely was accompanied by Dr. Patrick Sookdheo, a Coptic priest.

Former President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were out to change the entire Egyptian constitution into sharia law, Vallely said. “Twenty-two million people signed a petition to tell Morsi  to follow the constitution,” he said. That occurred prior to Morsi’s ouster by the military, which Vallely said was not a military coup. “The military stepped in” because of an impending civil war, he said.

“The State Department supported the Muslim Brotherhood. Why is our government supporting these terrorists?” he asked.

While in Egypt Vallely met Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Mark. “We spent 13 hours with him,” Vallely said, noting this took place at a fourth century monastery in the desert. “We found that 80 Coptic churches were destroyed,” he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood wants to establish a global caliphate, an Islamic state led by a religious and political leader, he said. “We see infiltration throughout the U.S., even our own government,” Vallely said, referring to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The U.S. had been an ally of Egypt for 45 years, but after the overthrow of Morsi, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have donated $8 billion to Egpyt, Vallely said. In addition, Russia is providing spare parts for their military, he said, noting the U.S. has stopped contributing to Egypt’s modernization program.

Al Qaeda is the military arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Vallely said. Prior to the overthrow of Morsi’s government, al Qaeda was building up forces in the Sinai Peninsula and feeding Gaza. He said they are firmly ensconced in Libya and are transferring arms to the Syrian rebels.

Other topics

Vallely said there’s a purge going on in the U.S. military. “We’re firing top generals and colonels who’ve been there 25 years,” he said. “It’s crazy.” Between eight and 10 generals have been fired this year, he said.

“Our government is totally broken,” he said. “Our courts are broken.”

He encouraged people to “stand up and do something. Make yourself known, and don’t be bashful about it.”

He referred audience members to his website, standupamericaus.org.