"When plunder becomes a way of life for a
group of men living in society, they create for themselves, in the course of
time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies
it." Frederic Bastiat, French thinker
(1801-1850).
The
U.S. and its allies are preparing for aggression against Syria as part of the
U.S.-Israel destabilisation agenda in the region. The pretext is, as usual, the
“protection of civilians” and installing of Western-style “democracy”. In
reality, nothing could be further from the truth. The aim is to topple the current
Syrian government and replace it with a puppet government subservient to U.S.-Israel
Zionist interests.
It should be noted that because of Syria’s support for
the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance to Israel’s terror and Syria’s ties
with Iran, the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is deemed a ”threat”
to U.S. and Israel interests. Hence, a Syrian regime subservient to U.S.-Israel
dictates is vital to isolate Iran. It ignores Israel’s Zionist expansion.
The ongoing foreign interference in Syria’s internal
affairs is a reminder of the recent criminal foreign interference in Libya,
which began with the imposition of a “no-fly” zone over Libya that was an
illegal military invasion of Libya. Media reports show that the U.S. and Israel
have hired Saudi and Lebanese elements to foment unrest in Syria, and to create
a rift between the government and the Syrian people based on sectarian
divisions.
The demonization campaign by the U.S. and
its allies to delegitimize the Syrian government is similar to the demonization
campaign that was carried out in Libya. On 25 November 2011, the Arab League –
a collection of illegitimate despots controlled by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf
oil fiefdoms – suspended Syria’s membership in the League and called for
economic and diplomatic sanctions against the nation of Syria. Like Libya, the
suspension of Syria from the Arab league provides the U.S. and its allies with
a fig-leaf to attack Syria and wage war against another Muslim nation.
The Arab League has a
long history of betrayal and has become irrelevant. “It is Saudi Arabia and the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) that have helped hijack the League. The GCC is
comprised of the Arabian Gulf petro-sheikhdoms of the United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. None of these countries are
model states, let alone democracies. Their U.S.-installed leaders have betrayed
the Palestinians, helped attack Iraq, support Israel against Lebanon,
demolished Libya, and now they conspire against Syria and its regional allies”.
He added “[The Arab League] has been hijacked and serves Washington and its
NATO allies instead of any genuinely Arab interests”.
Like the GCC, the Arab league is a tool of U.S. imperialism. Its shameful act
against Syria (a reprise of its shameful act against Libya) is an act of war against
another Arab nation.
The most shameful of all of this is the role of the
U.S.-backed Arab despots led by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and the United
Arab Emirates. It is ironic that these despots are motivated by concern for
human rights and democracy in Syria. Decades of repression, embezzlement of the
peoples’ wealth and resources by these despotic regimes led to high levels of
inequality and corruption. Despite their wealth, they remain backwards,
indulging in Western decadence and turning away from Islam as a way of life.
They espouse and practise an extremist (Islamic) view that is destroying Islam
as a great religion. They are unelected, illegitimate rulers and do not
tolerate any opposition to their tyrannical rule.
Saudi Arabia, of course, is the world’s most
repressive regime. It is also the U.S.’s closest ally. It is an absolute
monarchy which sees freedom and human rights as a threat to its corrupt ruling
class. Ordinary Saudi women are excluded from employment, which is very high
(40%) among young men and women. Saudi Arabia’s so-called “anti-terror” law
criminalises dissent as “terrorist crimes” and allows for long detention of
people without charge. Dissent in Saudi
Arabia is dealt with brutally. On 21 November 2011, Saudi troops opened fire on
a peaceful demonstration in Qatif in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, killing
four demonstrators and injuring more. Saudi rulers don’t tolerate dissent in
their neighbouring countries.
In March 2011, Saudi forces invaded Bahrain and
brutally crushed pro-democracy protesters. The invasion was encouraged and
supported by the U.S. administration. The recent report by the King of Bahrain’s
appointed commission, Bahrain
Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), was an orchestrated whitewash
designed to enforce the rule of the despotic monarchy. Nevertheless the report
found “systematic abuses of human rights” during the government attacks on
pro-democracy protests. The 500-page report outlines various abuses committed
by King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa’s despotic regime. According to the report,
detainees – including medical staff whose only crimes were to treat injured
protesters – were tortured and sexually abused. The report was immediately
buried by Western media before it saw daylight.
Step by step, the
Libyan model is being implemented in Syria. On 28 November, the UN – the right arm
of U.S. imperialism – accused Syrian forces of "crimes against
humanity" in their defence of the Syrian nation against Western-sponsored
armed gangs and terrorists. The so-called ‘UN Human Rights Council’ report is
entirely based on lies fabricated by expatriates in London, Paris and
Washington. While the report accuses the government of “committed atrocities”,
the report has completely omitted the death and torture of thousands of Syrians,
including soldiers and police, by the armed gangs. The report’s main purpose is
to demonise the Syrian government and justify Western armed aggression. The
report was immediately disseminated by Western propaganda organs, including the
BBC, CNN, Fox News, Al-Jazeera and the print media led by the Murdoch Press.
The report was a
carbon copy of the UN reports on Iraq and Libya before they were invaded and
destroyed by the U.S.-NATO militaries. The same pack of lies that were used to
justify U.S barbaric aggression against Iraq has been recycled against Syria. The
report is a prelude to a U.S.-NATO aggression against Syria. Where was the UN
Human Rights Council when the U.S. perpetrated genocide in Iraq? It is evident
that the UN is playing the role of a facilitator of Western-perpetrated war
crimes. Disinformation is important and effective in manipulating public
opinion and creating an atmosphere of war.
While the UN is busy manipulating world public opinion
on behalf of U.S.-NATO armies, British Prime Minister David Cameron and the
Qatari despot, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, pledged to support (i.e.,
shipment of arms and money) the Syrian “opposition groups” in an attempt to
shore up “democracy”. Of course, David Cameron’s and the Qatari despot’s love
for democracy is evident in their violent destruction of Libya. Today, Libya is
a mirror image of Iraq, looted, ruined and mired in violence. Tens of thousands
of Libyans (and Africans) have been murdered, thousands are languishing in torturous
prisons and a third of the population is displaced.
Still blood-thirsty, French President Nicolas
Sarkozy has called for the creation of a secure “humanitarian zone” to protect civilians
similar to the Libyan “humanitarian zone” where thousands of innocent civilians
were murdered by U.S.-NATO armies. The pretext of “human
rights” to justify war of aggression has been around since the rise of Adolf
Hitler’s Germany. The German Nazis used the pretexts of “protecting civilians”
to justify military invasions and violence. Indeed, since the early 1990s, the
world has witnessing the rise and rise of Anglo-American fascism invading and terrorising
defenceless nations and leaving them in complete ruin on the pretext of
“protecting civilians”.
According to the Turkish daily
newspaper, Milliyet (28 November 2011):
“France sent its military training forces to Turkey and Lebanon to coach the
so-called Free [Syrian] Army — a group of defectors operating out of Turkey and
Lebanon — in an effort to wage war against Syria”. Foreign mercenaries have
been pouring through the border with Lebanon. As mentioned earlier, they are
armed and financed by the CIA, Britain’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,
Lebanon and Jordan.
It is important
to remember that the armed insurrection against the Syrian government –
financed and armed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon
and Jordan – has been confined to smaller cities and towns along the borders with
Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. (For more, see my Target Syria). The
overwhelming majority of Syrians support President Bashar al-Assad,
particularly in major population centres, such as Damascus,
Latakia and Aleppo. Recent
pro-government demonstrations in these major cities have attracted millions of
al-Assad supporters.
Meanwhile, Turkey is exploiting the
violence to serve Turkey’s and NATO imperialist interests. Turkey has been promoting
the creation of “a buffer zone” in Syria to train and arm the so-called “Syrian
resistance” to the Syrian government. In its flagrant interference in Syrian
domestic affairs, Turkey has sponsored several conferences aimed at building an
opposition to the Syrian government and Turkey was instrumental in creating the
so-called Syrian National Council (SNC), a fractious coalition of expatriates
and armed extremists. Their leaders have already indicated that they will cut
Syria’s ties with Iran and with the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance
movements once they are in a position of “power” in Syria. In a recent
interview with the Wall Street Journal,
the SCN spokesman, Burhan Ghalioun, “was forced (and there
is no other explanation for it) to come clean about the nature of the payback
required of the Syrian opposition by its U.S., Turkish, Gulf, and European
supporters”, observed Ibrahim al-Amin, editor-in-chief of
al-Akhbar
news. Large quantities of weapons have
been smuggled into Syria from Turkey to foment civil war in the country. Turkey
is even contemplating an invasion of Syria if Ankara receives the green light
from Washington. Turkey is not interfering in Syria’s internal affairs because “White
Turks” suddenly began to care about human rights and democracy in the Arab
World, Turkey’s interference is self-serving and on behalf of U.S.-Israel
Zionist interests.
Turkey pretends to be an
even-handed “mediator” in the region, a “bridge” between the West and Muslim
nations. In reality, White Turks are subservient to Western imperialism and have
been performing the role of an imperialist proxy since the rise of Kamal
Ataturk. While Turkey prides itself of being a Muslim nation, Turkey espouses a
Western-oriented “Calvinist Islam”, which clearly conflicts with Islamic
principles. Turkey’s decades-long relationship with the Zionist state of Israel
and Turkey’s participation in U.S.-NATO (Turkey is a NATO member) wars against
Muslim nations are anti-Islam. Indeed, many ordinary Turks have condemned Turkey’s
role in the U.S.-NATO destruction of Libya and the mass murder of Libyan
civilians. Furthermore, Turkey’s decision to allow the U.S.-NATO to deploy a
nuclear missile “shield” on its soil that is directly aimed at Iran and other
Muslim nations is an outright hypocrisy and a betrayal of Islam.
Turkey’s recent posturing as a
champion of Palestine is opportunistic rhetoric designed for domestic and
regional consumption. If White Turks really care about human rights, they will
end Turkey’s cooperation with Israel and impose economic sanctions against the
Zionist state. White Turks should be concerned about human rights in their own
backyard. The Arabs should and must reject Turkey’s new role as a gendarme on
behalf of imperialism and Zionism.
U.S.
interference in the affairs of sovereign nations, including Arab nations, is well-documented.
The U.S. is the greatest enemy of democracy, human rights, and international
law. Regarding democracy, the U.S. ruling class prefers what Hillary Clinton
called: “The kind of democracy that we want to see”. The kind of
democracy in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran under the torturer Shah
Reza Behlavi, Egypt under the tyrannical Mubarak, and Chile under the fascist
regime of Augusto Pinochet. In fact, it would be very difficult to name a
single murderous dictator that was not (put in power) financed and armed by the
U.S. and its allies. The U.S. has long love affairs with murderous dictators
and fascists.
Furthermore, U.S.
agencies and think-tanks, such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), George Soros’ Open Society
Institute (OSI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and many more are
directly involved in financing opposition groups in the Arab world and beyond. The
New York Times (14 April 2011) revealed, “a number of the groups and individuals
directly involved in the revolts and reforms sweeping the [Middle east],
including the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt, the Bahrain Centre for Human
Rights and grass-roots activists like Entsar Qadhi, a youth leader in Yemen,
received training and financing from groups like the International Republican
Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, a non-profit
human rights organization based in Washington”. In Syria, NED is directly involved in financing the armed insurrection
in Syria through its partner, the Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies, an
anti-Syrian government organisation. In the case of Egypt, the U.S. supported
the Mubarak regime to the end. Once Mubarak was ousted, the U.S. switched sides
and has begun promoting divisions and sectarianism. At the same time, the U.S.
continues to work with its faithful client, the Egyptian Army to manipulate the
“revolution” to serve U.S.-Israel Zionist interests. However, if regime change
cannot be achieved through what is so-called “colour revolution” and economic
sanctions, the U.S. uses military intervention (illegal aggression) to achieve
its goal. It happened in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya and it is closing on Syria.
Finally, Syria
is not a perfect country. Like in every country, Syria has internal oppositions
of several parties. They are against
violence and foreign interference in their country’s affairs. The Syrian people
want real reforms – economic and political reforms – that serve their
interests. The Syrian people have suffered greatly in the last decade. As a
result of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and more than 2 million Iraqi
refugees, the Syrian economy has stagnated and living conditions have
deteriorated. The Syrian people don’t want U.S.-sponsored regime change. An
opinion poll conducted in March 2009 revealed that more than two-thirds of the
Syrian population viewed the U.S. unfavourably. The decision to change the
current Syrian government and political system remains in the hands of the
Syrian people.
With powerful
forces gathered against them, the Syrian people are facing violent aggression
to destroy and plunder their nation. There is no excuse to remain on the
sideline, complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The struggle to
uphold international law and oppose aggression must continue.
Ghali Hassan is an independent political
analyst living in Australia.
READ HIS BIO AND MORE ARTICLES BY
AXIS OF LOGIC COLUMNIST GHALI HASSAN