Renowned American Lawyer tells Obama to rethink military
option in Syria
A prominent American
lawyer has called on Barack Obama to think twice before going on with his
planned military action against Syria, saying the US president has not learnt
lessons from the experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan. “Now, as if having learned nothing from the devastating and costly aftermaths of the military invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, you're beating the combustible drums to attack Syria,” Ralph Nader wrote in a letter addressed to Obama, which was carried by www.huffingtonpost.com, emphasizing that Syria poses “no threat to the US.”
Nader expressed surprise at the extent of violation of the law by Obama whom he said was even outperforming his predecessor George W. Bush in violating “the Constitution, federal statutes, international treaties and the separation of power.”
He noted that Obama’s war plan is already opposed by “public opinion and sizable numbers of members of both parties in Congress.”
“These lawmakers oppose bombing Syria in spite of your corralling the cowardly leaders of both parties in the Congress,” wrote Nader in his article titled “Stopping Barry O'Bomber's Rush to War” using Obama’s school-time nickname.
Nader called into question the validity of Obama’s allegations for war on Syria, noting that the UN Charter “prohibits unilateral bombing” in such cases as Syria.
“Your argument for shelling Syria is to maintain 'international credibility' in drawing that 'red line' regardless ... [of] the red line of observing international law and the UN Charter,” he wrote, adding, “... Mr. Obama you have shaped the State Department into a belligerent 'force projector'.”
Criticizing US Secretary of State John Kerry for his absurd effort to justify war on Syria, the author said, “Secretary John Kerry descended to gibberish when, under questioning this week by a House Committee member, he asserted that your proposed attack was 'not war' because there would be 'no boots on the ground'. In Kerry's view, bombing a country with missiles and air force bombers is not an act of war.”
Nader also implied that Obama’s war plan was actually meant to divert attention from US domestic problems, describing the plan as camouflaging sheer madness.
“Crowding out attention to America's serious domestic problems by yet another military adventure (opposed by many military officials), yet another attack on another small, non-threatening Muslim country by the powerful Christian nation (as many Muslims see it) is aggression camouflaging sheer madness.”
The war rhetoric against Syria intensified after foreign-backed opposition forces accused the government of President Bashar al-Assad of launching the chemical attack on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21.
Damascus has denied the accusations, saying the attack was carried out by militants themselves as a false-flag operation.
On August 31, Obama said he had decided that Washington must take military action against the Syrian government, which would mean a unilateral military strike without a UN mandate.
Nader further advised Obama to read the leading peace activist Coleman McCarthy’s writings about the benefits of averting war, saying McCarthy “gives numerous examples of how waging peace avoided war and civil strife over the past 100 years.”
“History teaches that Empires always devour themselves,” he concluded.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/08/322758/rethink-war-on-syria-nader-to-obama/
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