The
Real Reason We Are Bombing Syria | Dennis J. Kucinich
If
you put what Dennis Kucinich writes into the context of Obama taking orders
from the Bush-Clinton regime, and the “Coalition” as the anti-Bush faction,
what do you think is really happening in the Middle East? -LW
The administration’s
response to the conjunction of this weekend’s People’s Climate March and the
International Day of Peace?
1) Bomb Syria the
following day, to wrest control of the oil from ISIS which gained its foothold
directly in the region through the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Jordan
funding and arming ISIS’ predecessors in Syria.
2) Send the president to
UN General Assembly, where he will inevitably give a rousing speech about
climate and peace, while the destruction of the environment and the shattering
of world peace is on full display 5,000 miles away.
Nothing better
illustrates the bankruptcy of the Obama administration’s foreign policy than
funding groups that turn on the U.S. again and again, a neo-con fueled cycle of
profits for war makers and destruction of ever-shifting “enemies.”
The fact can’t be
refuted: ISIS was born of Western intervention in Iraq and covert action in
Syria.
This Frankenstein-like
experiment of arming the alleged freedom-seeking Syrian opposition created the
monster that roams the region. ISIS and the U.S. have a curious relationship —
mortal enemies that, at the same time, benefit from some of the same events:
a) Ousting former Iraqi
President Nouri al Maliki for his refusal to consent to the continued presence
of U.S. troops in his country.
b) Regime change in
Syria.
c) Arming the Kurds so
they can separate from Iraq, a preliminary move to partitioning Iraq.
What a coincidence for
war-profiteering neo-cons and the war industry, which has seen its stock rise
since last week’s congressional vote to fund the rapid expansion of war. We
have met the enemy and he isn’t only ISIS, he is us.
Phase two of the war
against Syria is the introduction of 5,000 “moderate” mercenaries (as opposed
to immoderate ones), who were trained in Saudi Arabia, the hotbed of Wahhabism,
at an initial installment cost of $15 billion. These new “moderates” will
replace the old “moderates,” who became ISIS, just in time for Halloween.
The administration, in
the belief that you can buy, rent, or lease friends where they otherwise do not
exist, labor under the vain assumption that our newfound comrades-in-arms will
remain in place during their three-year employment period, ignoring the
inevitability that those “friends” you hire today could be firing at you
tomorrow.
One wonders if Saudi
training of these moderate mercenaries will include methods of beheading which
were popularized by the Saudi government long before their ISIS progeny took up
the grisly practice.
The U.S. is being
played.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia
can now overtly join with the U.S. in striking Syria, after they have been
covertly attempting for years to take down the last secular state in the
region. We are now advancing the agenda of the actual Islamic States — Saudi
Arabia and Qatar — to fight the ersatz Islamic State of ISIS.
Now U.S. bombs and
missiles might inadvertently “make the world safe” for theocracy rather than
democracy. Today we read reports that Israel has shot down a Syrian warplane,
indicating the terrible possibility of a wider regional conflict.
What does this have to
do with the security of the 50 States United? Nothing!
Last week Congress acted
prematurely in funding a war without following the proscriptions of Article I,
Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. (The day of the vote, I urged Congress to
resist this dangerous and misguided legislation.) But even while the funding
was given, the explicit authorization to go to war was not. To authorize a war,
Congress must vote for war. It has not done that yet.
To sell its case, the
administration is borrowing from the fear mongering tactics of the Bush
administration. ISIS poses no direct, immediate threat to the United States –The White House even said so
yesterday, just hours before bombing commenced – yet we are being
sold make-believe about ISIS sleeper cells.
This attack on Syria, under
the guise of striking ISIS, is by definition, a war of aggression. It is a
violation of international law. It could lead to crimes against humanity and
the deaths of untold numbers of innocent civilians. No amount of public
relations or smooth talking can change that.
And yes, members of this
Democratic administration, including the president who executed this policy,
must be held accountable by the International Criminal Court and by the
American people, who he serves.
But as we know, war is a
powerful and cynical PR tactic. I expect the bombing of Syria will momentarily
boost the White House’s popularity with self-serving heroic accounts of damage
inflicted upon ISIS (and the U.S. equipment they use). Stuffing the November
ballot box with bombs and missiles may even help the Democratic Party retain
the Senate.
But after the election
the voters will discover that the president played into the hands of
extremists, hurt civilians, and embroiled our country deep into another
conflict in the Middle East.
There were alternatives.
The U.S. and the international community could have contained and shrunk ISIS
by cutting off its funds and its revenue from sale of oil on the black market.
We could have looked to strike a deal with Syria and Iran.
In foreign policy, the
administration has failed. Congress has failed. Both the Democratic and
Republican Parties have passed the national checkbook to their patrons in the
war contracting business. And passed the bill to future generations.
The American people, who
in 2008 searched for something redemptive after years of George W. Bush’s war,
realize in 2014 that hope and change was but a clever slogan. It was used to
gain power and to keep it through promoting fear, war, the growth of the
National Security state, and an autumnal bonfire of countless billions of tax
dollars which fall like leaves from money trees on the banks of the Potomac.
The
Real Reason We Are Bombing Syria | Dennis J. Kucinich.
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