by Ed Ciaccio
Writer, Dandelion Salad
August 26, 2013
Image by UweHiksch via Flickr
According to many reports, the U.S., U.K.,and even France are preparing to soon (two weeks?) attack Syria with cruise missiles launched from U.S. & U.K. ships off the Syrian coast (to destroy Syrian command & control centers as well as Syrian anti-aircraft installations, including Russian-made missiles), then follow that up by aerial bombing, all to overthrow the Assad regime so a U.S. puppet regime can be installed, as we have done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, and tried in Libya. Most U.S. media supports these plans and even enthusiastically calls for these attacks.
Meanwhile, more than 60% of AmeriKans oppose any U.S. intervention in Syria.
Obomber & Cameron hope these attacks, without any “boots on the ground”, will placate the opposition of their respective nations’ populations, as Clinton’s & NATO’s 78-day bombing of Kosovo (yet another unpunished U.S. war crime), supposedly for “humanitarian reasons”, was nearly ignored by most AmeriKans in 1999.
All Justice and Peace groups, environmental groups (warfare heavily contributes to catastrophic climate disaster as well as massive environmental pollution and destruction), and everyone opposed to the U.S. Empire and its main priority of greed through death and destruction of people and planet must make their strong opposition to increased U.S. & NATO military intervention in Syria’s civil war.
I say “increased” because the U.S., NATO, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have already intervened militarily in that civil war by supplying weapons and training to the rebels (who include Al-Qaeda elements) as well as having commandos (and, most likely, CIA operatives) on the ground with the rebels.
Obomber got away with the destruction of Libya, once the African nation with the highest standard of living for its citizens, by having U.S. & NATO aircraft attack it, then claiming it was “not a war” and no U.S. soldiers were killed, so we should not object to his actions.
Obomber & Cameron are likely hoping they can get away with the same thing in Syria, but the stakes are higher because both Russia, which has its own warships off Syria’s coast, and China, support the Assad regime.
Obomber’s “red line” of chemical weapons use is just like Bush’s WMD scare in justifying a Western military attack, no matter how dubious the evidence that Assad’s forces used chemical weapons. U.N. inspectors are currently trying to determine whose weapons were used. Left unsaid by Obomber and U.S. corporate media is the war crime of U.S. use of depleted uranium, white phosphorous, and napalm on Iraqi civilians. Only U.S. enemies must be “punished” for committing such war crimes. Since the U.S. NEVER commits such war crimes, we shouldn’t even be discussing such things.
“Punishing” Assad’s regime will only add even more suffering to the people of Syria and enrage even more people in the Arab and Muslim nations to want vengeance against the U.S. and its puppets, the U.K and NATO nations. That cycle of violence will do nothing but perpetuate profits for military contractors and bribes for their willing lackeys in all Western governments, especially the U.S., the world’s Number One Merchant of Death.
We know that more bombing will only bring more death and destruction of the planet.
We should also fear that confrontation with Russia and China, as Obomber continues the encirclement of Russia and China by U.S. forces on both land and sea, could trigger a “Cuban Missile Crisis II” for this young century.
I am calling on all of us to do whatever we can to forcefully oppose the dreadful step of more U.S./NATO (what the hell is NATO doing in the eastern Mediterranean anyway, except supporting U.S. global hegemony?) military intervention in Syria’s civil war.
Cease-fire negotiations, supervised by the United Nations, are the only sane alternative.
We must pressure our war-loving President, Congress, and media, all funded by military contractors, to listen to us this time. This lame-duck President may believe he can get away with anything now that he no longer has to run for re-election.
While tens of billions of U.S. dollars are being spent gearing up for war on Syria, tens of millions of our own citizens are unemployed or underemployed, Detroit is bankrupt but will not be bailed out (because it’s not a Wall Street bank), our schools are closing or underfunded, our infrastructure is crumbling, and millions of U.S. families dependent on Food Stamps may soon be deprived of them. There is so much wrong with these cruel, psychopathic priorities that it defies description.
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya taught the belligerent U.S. imperial government and its weapons suppliers that they can disregard our opposition to their violent greed. We must do whatever we can to change that, or this military intervention may well become, as one writer put it today, Obama’s ‘Guns of August’, with even more tragic results than those of 99 years ago.
CONTACT THE PRESIDENT:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
EMAIL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
CONTACT CONGRESS:
CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD: (202) 224-3121
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Ed Ciaccio’s first book, Heartlines: Selected Personal Works 1966-2011, is now available at http://www.createspace.com/3722975 or www.amazon.com.
***
Take Action!
No U.S. Military Intervention in Syria!
To: President Barack Obama and Members of Congress
We urge you to reject any military intervention in Syria, including arming the rebels or creating a no-fly zone, and instead to focus on increasing humanitarian assistance through the United Nations and building active multi-lateral diplomacy without preconditions with all involved parties for an immediate ceasefire, a full arms embargo, and negotiations to end Syria’s civil war.
[…]
see
Chemicals Seep Through the Cracks in Western-led Axis Against Syria by Finian Cunningham
Saudi Arabia Sponsoring Terrorists Who Kill Muslims by Finian Cunningham
Rick Rozoff: Military Buildup Around Syria Points To Another Invasion
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The terrible irony is that there is already so much blood under that proverbial bridge, that whatever is done will not stem the reprisals and enduring sectarian divisions.
This is an endemic sickness that needs profound spiritual medicine & the “West” is certainly not qualified for the job. There are however countless individuals and non-governmental organizations who are committed to conflict resolution by diverse means. Means as seemingly ineffectual as music, poetry and food or more structured & strategic, like culturally integrated & equal gender-impartial ecological education.
These matters can not be addressed adequately in a one-dimensional way by alien interests. Nor can political initiatives and “economic” measures get to the heart of it, that can only be understood in a bio-regional environment that embeds a broad spiritual climate of problem solving.
People need food that is fit to eat and food systems that are sustainable and naturally wholesome. So this means facing up to water scarcity, biodiversity through intelligent conservation and prioritizing the remediation of soils that facilitate the greening of barren deserts.
Guns and “jihadism” are the last resort of the ignorant and desperate; and the US/NATO axis is no exception to that rule.
It is the Saudi regime that needs changing first and foremost, just as the Zionist megalomaniacs need caging ~ so that their lunatic constituency of politicians and crony industrialists who are causing all the problems in the first place, can be responsibly held to account.
Then we can address the issue of sectarian fanaticism robustly….by superior example; and thus properly challenge this ill-adapted ophthalmologist who had the misfortune to be the son of a psychopath and inherit a legacy of deeply entrenched nepotistic intimidation, torture and sycophantic repression.
For heaven’s sake…when is Obama going to grow some backbone? Haven’t the US/UK left enough countries in a pile of rubble? How many more? This might be one ‘tiger’s tail’ too many that is being pulled. Russia, and possibly China, is not going to stand by idle. The Western axis of evil: US/UK! WW3 in the making?
Indeed…. ;’ (
I would agree with much of this article, but I don’t see Obama as being a primary force behind overt war against Syria. He was happy with color revolutions and proxy wars, but he doesn’t want an overt war. Not out of the goodness of his heart, of course, but out of knowledge of his own political self interests.
He’s been very reluctant to engage in direct military action in Syria, but has been under pressure to do so. This pressure for all-out war has been coming primarily from the neocons, Israelis, British, and French, with the latter taking the lead, hence the name FUKUS coalition (France, UK, US).
Like I’ve said, an all out war wouldn’t be in Obama’s political self-interest and he knows that. A US attack and more open alliance with al-Qaeda would piss off a lot of people both left and right. He’d further alienate his own base at the same time as he’d likely be facing impeachment. We’ve yet to see the end of the Benghazi affair, which has come out in the mainstream as involving the smuggling of weapons and jihadists to Turkey and then on to Syria. A Syrian war would only make things worse for Obama.
We’ve seen that reluctance in a recent CNN interview where BO said that the US would not go to war without a UN mandate, knowing full-well that Russia and China will veto any such resolution. We’ve also seen his close ally general Dempsey be very negative on going to war.
But this certainly doesn’t mean we can rest easy. Pressure on Obama to go to war can be brought to bear through blackmail and any number of other means, and BO is known for being a wimp who doesn’t take a stand against this sort of pressure. We need to make him more afraid of us than he is of them. What’s needed is a mass-mobilization right now to oppose intervention, and with enough pressure there’s a chance we can still stop it before it starts!
Abe, I hope you’re correct and I’m being too cynical or pessimistic. See this & consider it: An Unpopular War Just to Save Face | FDL Action http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2013/08/26/an-unpopular-war-just-to-save-face/
I agree that we must mobilize, if only to show the world that not all USAns are with the warmongers….but Obama surely showed his taste for blood in Libya….he will do whatever he thinks is in his political interests…the road to Iran