U.S. tax dollars funneled through the CIA and USAID, have played a pivotal role in arming and enabling extremist factions whose ascendance has resulted in atrocities.

The forces of Syria’s new self-proclaimed “interim president” a Salafist, Sunni Muslim who currently goes by the name Ahmed al-Shara, over this past weekend lined up civilians, both Alawites and Christians, against the wall and executed them. Their crime: Infidelity to Salafism, a strict interpretation of Islamic law.