If you've ever stumbled across genuine Islamic State propaganda videos or photos and their loose resemblance to car commercials - albeit with a notably dystopic terror-cult tinge - you probably quizzically crinkled your brow. But after time spent perusing more oddly indistinguishable ISIS propaganda than you'd care to remember, that crinkled brow surely crystallized into veritable folklore:

Where did ISIS get all those new Toyota trucks?!


Now, at long last, U.S. counterterrorism officials have commenced an ostensibly earnest attempt to answer that open question - by asking Toyota how, exactly, ISIS came to possess such an impressive array of its late-model pick-ups and SUVs.

In response, Toyota claims to have no idea how it happened - partly because tracking vehicle sales won't necessarily catch middlemen or wholesalers with terrorist ties.

And after all, the company maintains a "strict policy to not sell vehicles to potential purchasers who may use or modify them for paramilitary or terrorist activities," according to Ed Lewis, Toyota's director of public policy and communications in Washington, as reported by ABC News. "We briefed Treasury on Toyota's supply chains in the Middle East and the procedures Toyota has in place to protect supply chain integrity."

Lewis' reference to "Treasury" is Toyota's pledge to "support" an inquiry by the U.S. Treasury Department's rather problematically-monikered Terror Financing Unit - which is one ostensible arm of a purposefully nonspecific "effort" to somehow prevent ISIS from acquiring Western stuff.

"This is a question we've been asking our neighbors," beseeched Iraqi Ambassador to the U.S., Lukman Faily. "How could these brand new trucks . . . these four-wheel drives, hundreds of them - where are they coming from?"
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Toyota's Land Cruisers and its overseas version of the Tacoma - the dubious Hilux - have become a notoriously iconic feature of ISIS.

"Regrettably, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux have effectively become almost part of the ISIS brand," explained Mark Wallace, CEO of the nonprofit Counter Extremism Project, which tracks and exposes financial networks that back terrorism, to ABC News. "ISIS has used these vehicles in order to engage in military-type activities, terror activities, and the like. But in nearly every ISIS video, they show a fleet - a convoy of Toyota vehicles and that's very concerning to us."

ISIS inevitably procures a bevy of U.S. military accoutrements abandoned by or otherwise wrested from Iraqi fighters, who purportedly ditched some 2,300 Humvees in retreat near Mosul - ghanimah, or spoils - a veritable boon for ISIS militants. But, as you're likely well aware, ISIS' spoils include decidedly more dangerous items than Toyotas and Humvees.

According to examples cited by Reuters, besides the Humvees, ISIS' spoils include:

Innumerable small arms and ammunition

52 Howitzer M198 mobile gun systems

74,000 machine guns

40 main M1A1 battle tanks

Unknown qty. anti-tank missiles

And Iraqi butterfingers naturally translated into additional search and destroy missions for U.S. military to essentially track down its own weapons. As Peter Van Buren mused,

"It's a surreal state of affairs in which American weaponry is being sent into Iraq to destroy American weaponry previously sent into Iraq. If a new sequel to Catch-22 were to be written, this would be the plot line."

To destroy ISIS' tanks, originally sent to aid Iraqi forces, the U.S. - logically enough - proceeded to ship Iraqi forces 175 Abrams tanks; 55,000 rounds of tank ammo; $600 million in howitzers and trucks; 2,000 AT-4 rockets; and $700 million in Hellfire missiles.

Throwing money at 'it' seems to be the Department of Defense's stopgap, default answer to every issue - hence the veritable braintrust so apparent in this plan.

Brush away that trepidation, though. Should this entire shipment fall to the Islamic State, Congress already approved an additional $1.2 billion earlier this year - specifically to help bolster Iraqi forces.

Comment: Solving the "mystery" of ISIS' Toyota army

Recently, when the US State Department resumed sending non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels, the delivery list included 43 Toyota trucks.

Hiluxes were on the Free Syrian Army's wish list. Oubai Shahbander, a Washington-based advisor to the Syrian National Coalition, is a fan of the truck.

"Specific equipment like the Toyota Hiluxes are what we refer to as force enablers for the moderate opposition forces on the ground," he adds. Shahbander says the US-supplied pickups will be delivering troops and supplies into battle. Some of the fleet will even become battlefield weapons

From a military perspective this is one way to test the capabilities and assess the deficencies of your own equipment in a real world battlefield environment with your enemies being the ones getting killed..

haha

If one harkens back, to the days immediately after 9/11, many of the news videos and "other footage", showed Al Qaeda to be in possession of a bunch of Toyota fourrunners.

Japanese owned, Toyota, is most likely offering terrorists a fleet purchase deal on new vehicles.

it's not that hard to look to see where they came from, our government doesn't want anyone to know... either the rich sheiks of the middle east bought them, or obarry did...

Oh...
I've no doubt, that Obonzo used u.s. taxpayer dollars to supply his terrorist brethren with all the comforts of home.

Woulda been a wee too obvious, to have shipped them a fleet of Chevies.


I'll bet the terrorists are all equipped with obama phones... at U.S. taxpayer expense.

Wonder if Obozo earned a commission off the deal?

A vehicle called - 3rdTerm

Im with you on that, likely to be saudi sent, US approved. Or Us sent direct with the guise of being for the good guys in the area.

I cant see Japan, or Toyota sending any directly to isis.

Spoils of War!
Iraq Regulars running away,leaving everything behind!
No Conspiracy,just:Feet Don't Fail Me Now" sung by Iraqi Regulars!

Where are the Warthogs doing the testing?

"Spoils of War!
Iraq Regulars running away,leaving everything behind!
No Conspiracy,just:Feet Don't Fail Me Now" sung by Iraqi Regulars!"

Do you think US forces command realised some of their weapons and equipment might fall into "terrorist" hands?

i don't think so, or not all of it at least... i always wondered why obarry left everything there when we left, but figured the new Iraqi army needed them... i don't think anyone thought they would turn and run like frenchmen in WW2

maybe we'll find out in Hilliary's e-mails.

It was a plot by Ford Motor Company, to implicate "them thar foreigners" at Toyota.

Not just Al Qaeda but the Taliban also... I think in the picture below it's a Toyota....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban#/media/File:Taliban-herat-2001_retouched.jpg

I actually saw Warthogs doing testing when I went to the lake (Ocala Natl Forest) this past summer. They flew real low because we were waving. There were two just flying this huge circle pattern.

I had to look up the plane on Internet because I had never seen it before. I'm 100% they were Warthogs.

The ME version of fast and furious

You recon they got them gps trackers in em?