America’s Media War on Syria – by Stephen Lendman
Replicating Libya’s model, Western generated uprisings began in March. Since then, Syria’s been ravaged by violence. Hundreds have been killed, many more injured.
Civilians and state security forces have been affected. Conflict rages daily. Casualties mount. Regime change is planned to establish another US client state.
At issue Washington’s New Middle East agenda. One country at a time is ravaged toward achieving America’s goal of unchallenged regional dominance to Russia’s borders.
Constructive chaos aims to redraw regional lines according to US/Israeli/NATO geopolitical goals. All of it’s been carefully planned, shifting from one target to the next.
Post-9/11, first Afghanistan in 2001, then Iraq, Libya, and now Syria.
Previous articles mentioned General Wesley Clark’s book titled, “Winning Modern Wars.” In it he said Pentagon sources told him shortly after 9/11 that war plans were being prepared against Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. Months earlier, they were finalized against Afghanistan.
Clark added:
“And what about the real sources of terrorists – US allies in the region like Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia? Wasn’t it repressive policies of the first, and the corruption and poverty of the second, that were generating many of the angry young men who became terrorists? And what of the radical ideology and direct funding spewing from Saudi Arabia?”
“It seemed that we were being taken into a strategy more likely to make us the enemy – encouraging what could look like a ‘clash of civilizations’ – not a good strategy for winning the war on terror.”
Broadcast on FORA TV on October 3, 2007, Clark said America underwent a “policy coup” post-9/11. Hard-liners co-opted power with no public debate or acknowledgement.
Ten days after 9/11, he visited Defense Secretary Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. “No one will tell us where or when to bomb”, he said. Military commanders explained Iraq would be attacked.
“I walked out of there pretty upset,” said Clark. On a second visit, he was told plans were to “destroy the governments in” the above named countries.
In addition, Pakistan and others are targeted. US Special Forces death squads operate covertly in over 120 countries. So do CIA, Mossad and MI6 operatives. No one anywhere is safe, including US citizens at home or abroad. Everyone is fair game extrajudicially. So are independent nonbelligerent nations.
America’s media cheerlead supportively. Imperial goals alone matter, not truth, full disclosure, democratic values or rule of law issues.
Repeatedly Iran’s been pilloried. Now it’s Syria’s turn. Whatever Washington says is red meat to jump on. Recent New York Times and Washington Post editorials are typical.
On November 16, a New York Times editorial headlined, “The Killing in Syria Goes On,” saying:
“The brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has left more than 3,500 people dead. International pressure for his removal is finally building – but not fast enough.”
Fact check
As explained above, Libya’s model is being replicated. Assad didn’t instigate violence. He responded to externally generated insurgents, largely made up of Al Qaeda elements.
Like Libya’s rebel rats, they were recruited, armed and trained. Covert Special Forces and intelligence operatives perhaps lead them. At issue is making Syria another US client state, and eliminating another Israeli rival for regional dominance.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon’s Hariri March 8 alliance, and Israel are involved. Heavy weapons were brought in, including shoulder-borne rockets, anti-tank weapons, machine guns, and others.
Nothing about what’s ongoing is homegrown. Despite legitimate social, economic and political grievances, most Syrians back Assad. Mass rallies show it.
Usually when disruptive forces target sitting governments, people rally supportively behind it. Libyans did it for Gaddafi and still do. Syrians have done it repeatedly despite the regime’s authoritarian nature.
“The Arab League….finally (acted). On Saturday, it gave Damascus until Wednesday to end the violence or have its membership suspended. The killing has worsened.” Giving Assad a three-day reprieve, League members “offer(ed) to send monitors to determine if the government was abiding by a league-brokered peace plan to end the crackdown.”
“He isn’t. Another three days of enabling will only ensure that more Syrians will die. The League needs (to) suspend Syria (and) impose muscular penalties for Assad’s brutality.”
Fact check
League members include mostly pro-Western despots. Supporting imperial lawlessness, they condoned (and for some participated in) Libya’s ravaging, including massacres too great to ignore.
They’re silent on NATO’s plan to colonize, occupy and plunder another Arab State, as well as ongoing atrocities in Bahrain, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, elsewhere in the region, and internally against their own people.
Since March, they supported Western-backed anti-Syrian insurgents. Regional instability followed. Regime change is planned, including perhaps war and occupation.
Washington wants conflict, not peace. Syria was peaceful until America and regional allies intervened. Arab League figures broker nothing. They do what they’re told and obey.
Rogue League regimes govern oppressively. Despite being authoritarian, Syria’s the only remaining independent, anti-imperial, secular Arab state. Washington wants it replaced by pro-Western extremist elements, similar to Libya’s model.
“….Russia and China have blocked the United Nations Security Council from imposing sanctions or even issuing a full-throated condemnation of Mr. Assad’s bloody reign….The Council should refer Mr. Assad and his henchmen to the International Criminal Court for prosecution for crimes against humanity.”
Fact check
Russia and China want no repeat of UN Resolution 1973. Imposing a no-fly zone, in fact, declared war. Wisely, they’ll block resolutions threatening it.
Established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on July 1, 2002, it’s mandated to prosecute individuals for genocide and aggression, as well as crimes of war and against humanity.
Instead, it functions solely as an imperial tool, targeting Western-designated states. At the same time, it ignores US, NATO and Israeli crimes of war and humanity. As a result, they act with impunity because no international body, court, or world leader alliance holds them accountable.
Chief prosecutor Jose Luis Moreno-Ocampo follows Washington’s orders. At its behest, Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and brother-in-law/intelligence chief, Abdullah Al-Sanousi unfairly faced “charges of orchestrating systematic attacks against civilians (amounting to) crimes against humanity.”
Expect Abbas and close associates to be charged, not Western leaders behind Syria’s insurgency. Like Libya, violence didn’t erupt until Washington and imperial partners showed up lawlessly. Planned months ahead, it now rages out of control.
In his newest book, Michael Parenti defined “The Face of Imperialism” as:
“the process whereby the dominant investor interests in one country bring to bear military and financial power upon another in order to expropriate the land, labor, capital, natural resources, commerce, and markets of that other country.”
“There are real material interests at stake, fortunes to be made many times over. (Intervening) enrich(es) investors and keep(s) the world safe for them.”
Moreover, whether democrats or despots, blaming victims facilitates the process. Humanitarian intervention claimed for intervening is cover for imperial designs. Ravaging the world one country at a time, step one is making them charnel houses.
Ravaged Libya will take years to rebuild. Its human toll alone is one of history’s great crimes. Is Syria next, then other countries on NATO’s target list?
“Mr Assad has left no doubt that he is willing to destroy his country to maintain his hold on power. His neighbors and all civilized countries need to stand with the Syrian people, before it’s too late.”
Fact check
Full and accurate information and analysis isn’t what media scoundrels do. A previous article said they make pimps, prostitutes and dope peddlers look good by comparison.
The Washington Post: Matching New York Times Duplicity Blow-for-Blow
An October 15 editorial headlined, “Syria’s Assad regime is a threat to the US,” saying:
“The CARNAGE in Syria grinds on.” Killings occur daily. Assad’s “crimes….are not confined to its own soil.” In mid-October, “the FBI arrested a Leesburgh man who has been charged with conspiring to collect information on people protesting against the Syrian government in Washington and elsewhere in the United States for delivery to the regime’s intelligence services.”
Fact check
Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid, a naturalized US citizen, was charged. Accusing him of criminal activity is very suspect. Even if he gathered information, doing so isn’t criminal.
His case perhaps is similar to the Cuban Five, victims of US state terrorism. In September 1998, they were arrested on spurious charges, including conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, and other charges.
They, in fact, were legally monitoring Miami-based, US funded, extremist right-wing terror groups, planning violence against Cuba. For decades, thousands of incidents occurred, including use of chemical and biological weapons.
Back home, the Five are national heros. In America, they’re imprisoned unjustly. Whether Soueid, in fact, engaged in similar activities isn’t known. Nonetheless, with full WP support, he’ll be hung out to dry lawlessly.
Charges against him “show that the Assad regime poses a threat not only to people in Syria but to those in the United States and other countries who support freedom.”
Fact check
Assad, of course, threatens no one. Neither did Gaddafi. Freedom is anathema to America. Democracy isn’t tolerated at home or abroad.
On November 2, a WP editorial headlined, “Can the Arab League and Turkey stop the slaughter in Syria?” saying:
“(T)he besieged people of Syria must look for relief from their neighbors. (Perhaps) Ankara and the Arabs will turn up the pressure on Mr. Assad.”
“The next question….is what the Arab League will do when the killing continues. Suspending Syria’s membership is one obvious step.”
No matter that doing so violates its constitutional provisions, requiring a unanimous vote. Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted “no.” Iraq abstained.
“The Arabs could also endorse international efforts to protect the Syrian population, as they did in the case of Libya.”
Fact check
Protection Washington-style means mass killing and destruction. Apparently WP supports it. Why not? It backed NATO’s ravaging of Libya wholeheartedly, as well as Iraq, Afghanistan and other US imperial wars.
On November 11, a WP editorial headlined, “Syria’s continuing slaughter pushes the US to act,” saying:
“What can be done to stop the slaughter?”
“The United States and its allies, no less than the Arab League, have yet to formulate a convincing answer. But we are encouraged by….Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey D. Feltman….correctly describing ‘the mafia-like Assad clique that has hijacked the Syrian state.’ ”
He also referred to Assad’s “deliberate and bloody strategy.”
Feltman “laid out a US policy aimed at protecting Syrian civilians, removing Mr. Assad from power and promoting a transition to democracy.”
Fact check
WP editors are “encouraged” that America plans regime change, no matter the body count to achieve it. Instead of demanding Washington call off its dogs, they support ravaging another independent nonbelligerent state. It was peaceful until US-backed insurgents showed up.
Now plagued by imported violence, WP editors urge Obama officials “to undertake stronger measures” if current ones fall short.
Sadly, this is what passes for journalism and opinion in America. The Times and Post are America’s most prominent broadsheets. Their views influence others.
Very possibly, more war and carnage is planned. Both papers and other US media sources back it.
No wonder America gets away with mass murder globally. Expect more perhaps anytime.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
