Vanessa Beeley

Vanessa Beeley
Abbreviation	SCD
Formation	2013
Founder	James Le Mesurier
Type	Nonprofit
Interest of	Chloe Hadjimatheou
Member of	American Herald Tribune, MintPress News, Unlimited Hangout, Working Group on Syria Propaganda and Media

The White Helmets describe themselves as "2,900 volunteer search and rescue workers from local communities who risk their lives to save others and bring hope" throughout opposition-controlled Syria, and claim to have "saved 60,000 lives" during the conflict.. The organisation has usurped the title "Syria Civil Defence" in both its logo and in press releases, since it is not the official ICDO-accredited Syrian civil defence organisation.

On 6 October 2016, RT's Peter Lavelle hosted an edition of Crosstalk which exposed the White Helmets as an elaborate and cynical Western PR stunt promoting illegal regime change in Syria.

Official narrative

White Helmets funding and support sources

The White Helmets are lauded by the Western commercially-controlled media as a group of volunteer first-responders, funded by the US, Britain and others to the tune of $100 million. Their official website says the volunteers have already saved more than 20,000 people on all sides of the conflict, adding that they are following the principles of humanity, solidarity and impartiality outlined by the International Civil Defence Organisation.

They were nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize, a nomination which The Guardian supported in October 2016. The prize was awarded to Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos on 7 October 2016.

Alternative position

British journalist Vanessa Beeley, who returned from Aleppo in 2016, accused the White Helmets of stealing ambulances and fire engines, and even killing Syria's real Civil Defence personnel.

NATO-backed terrorists?

In a post to Facebook, she referred to them as terrorists and in a Sputnik News article she said White Helmets and other NGOs such as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, are used to justify the West’s policy of arming and supporting the insurgency in Syria:

“If we at least start making people question this propaganda and if we make people appreciate that it is a very one sided story that is being portrayed to them, then we are breaking some strangle holds of these narratives.”

Vanessa Beeley published a 25-minute interview to support these claims at Youtube.

Misnomer

Despite the name, Syria Civil Defence was not created by Syrians nor does it serve Syria. Civilians from rebel controlled territory were paid to go to Turkey to receive some training in rescue operations. The program was managed by James Le Mesurier, a former British soldier and private contractor whose company is based in Dubai.

"Save Aleppo"

Staging a "Save Aleppo" protest in Europe

Tony Cartalucci, in a Land Destroyer Report datelined 3 October 2016, wrote:

Recent protests held across North America and Europe staged by supporters of armed militants in Syria have staged scenes in Western streets eerily similar to those featured in the photos and videos of the US-European funded “Syrian Civil Defence” also known as the White Helmets. Posing as an impartial rescue force, the White Helmets are transparently auxiliaries serving exclusively side-by-side with armed militants including US State Department, UN, and EU designated foreign terrorist organisations. Their primary function is not “rescuing” anyone, but to manage a public relations campaign aimed at swaying public and political opinion, leveraging “humanitarian” sympathy worldwide. Their primary means of doing this is publishing photos and videos of their members – wearing elaborate, matching uniforms and driving brand new ambulances – pulling dust and blood covered victims from rubble allegedly brought down upon them by Syrian and Russian airstrikes.

The veracity of their photos, videos, and many claims have never been independently verified, and in many cases, evidence suggests that much of what they present to the public across their extensive, well-funded social media presence has been fabricated. The recent coordinated “Save Aleppo” protests held across Europe and North America, perhaps revealed just how transparently fabricated and fictional the White Helmets' work really is. During one protest, photos retweeted by the official White Helmets Twitter account showed actors dressed up as “war victims", covered in fake dust and blood, appearing almost indistinguishable from the alleged “victims” the White Helmets regularly “save” in Syria. The protest, staged in European streets far from the Syrian conflict, even included children – likewise covered in fake dust and blood – cradled in the arms of adults, posing with despondent looks upon their faces. Also part of the staged scene were actors dressed like the White Helmets themselves.

Devastation of Syria provides a much more convincing “set” for the actors to perform on

The only difference between admittedly staged scenes in European streets during a recent “Save Aleppo” protest, and the daily output of the Western created and funded White Helmets acting troupe in Syria is that in Syria, the devastation of war provides a much more convincing “set” for the actors to perform on.

While the acting troupe that organised this protest may have thought they were cleverly “bringing the conflict to the streets of Europe” to invoke global sympathy for their cause, what they really proved was just how easy it really is for the White Helmets to create “war victims” anytime, anywhere. In Syria, where years of US-backed violence has left many parts of the country devastated, such staged scenes playing out with the devastation of war as a backdrop become all the much more convincing. With White Helmets videos heavily edited before reaching the public, they are able to create tragic scenes of war, anytime, anywhere – even in the streets of Europe thousands of miles away from where Syrian and Russian warplanes are operating. Their primary goal and that of the special interests funding them tens of millions of dollars, is to manipulate the hearts and minds of the global public in support of Western-backed armed militants – not “save lives” nor bring peace to Syria.

 

A Document by Vanessa Beeley

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:Journey To Aleppo Part I: Exposing The Truth Buried Under NATO Propaganda	Article	20 September 2016	Syria White Helmets James Le Mesurier	The Syrian people are suffering under the ‘moderate rebels’ and ‘opposition forces’ backed by the US, NATO member states and their allies in the Gulf states and Israel. Yet their suffering is largely ignored in the mainstream media unless it furthers the agenda dictated by the US State Department.

 

A Quote by Vanessa Beeley

Page	Quote	Date
Sean Penn	“Is Sean Penn a Hollywood “honey trap” for the five eyes intelligence alliance..? Or is Penn nothing more than a member of the rising celebrity cult-humanitarian complex spearheaded by entertainment stars, billionaires and activist “NGOs” that include Bill Gates, George Soros, Angelina Jolie, Bono and Penn’s ex-wife, Madonna? The line between being an intelligence asset and an “innocent” promoter of US hegemony and neoliberal capitalism is an indistinct one in either case.”	27 November 2020

 

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