On 01 April 2012, the so-called “Friends of Syria” met in Istanbul to plan their agenda of fomenting civil war in Syria to destroy the country and oust the Syrian Government, using “human rights” as a pretext. They have agreed to provide finance and arms to outlawed groups attacking the Syrian state and the people of Syrian.

For a start, the anti-government violence in Syria has nothing to do with a popular civilian uprising. It is a Western-sponsored armed insurrection that is condemned and rejected by the overwhelming majority of the Syrian population. Even Syrian civilians who opposed the current Government have rejected the armed insurrection. The U.S. and its allies (vassals) will never support an anti-imperialist popular uprising.

From the outset, the armed insurrection has been instigated and financed by the U.S. and its allies, not only to destroy the country (Iraq and Libya are good examples) but also to oust the legitimate Syrian Government and replace it with a U.S.-controlled despotic regime. Syria is a sovereign nation and has the right to take a sovereign decision to defend the Syrian nation from foreign-sponsored armed insurrection.

According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Manar (05 March 2012), the armed insurrection is led by a collection of Western-sponsored criminals, C.I.A. assets, Israeli terrorists, blackwater mercenaries and bribed army deserters. In short, they are C.I.A.-Mossad led paramilitary militias (a.k.a. terrorists). They are well armed and well paid by foreign powers. The U.S., Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are providing arms and cash. France and Britain are actively providing military training and advice. The terrorists are committing heinous crimes against the Syrian population, including torture, rape, and mass executions of young men.

The terrorists have been instructed by their Western handlers to engage in violence and acts of terrorism against the population to tarnish the image of the Syrian Government. They have rejected peaceful negotiations and are demanding U.S./NATO military intervention based on the Libyan model to oust the legitimate Syrian Government. To enhance their image, the terrorists have been glorified by Western media and promoted as the “Free Syrian Army”, the “Syrian National Council” and “Opposition activists”. They have powerful “friends” that no other anti-government protesters have.

The major players of the “Friends of Syria” are: the U.S., Britain, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and other U.S. vassals. Almost all of them are repressive states and violators of human rights. Many of these states are tyrannical dictators. The U.S., Israel, Britain and France (under Nicolas Sarkozy) are police states that espoused a fascist ideology under a veneer of fake democracy. The U.S. and its allies have supported and continue to support the most repressive and murderous regimes on the planet. The U.S., Britain, Israel, France and Turkey are vicious enemies of the Arab people. In fact, the prevalent attitudes of U.S.-NATO states toward the Arabs (and Muslims in general) are reminiscent of the Nazis’ attitudes toward Russians, Roma people, and Jews.

In addition to powerful friends, the terrorists can count on the support of the leading capitalist media. The main Zionist propaganda organs, the BBC, New York Times and Al-Jazeera have formed a second front in the war against Syria. Specialised in distortion of facts and fabrication of false stories, the media are guilty of war crimes. And with dishonest journalists and pundits, such as Robert Fisk, Andrew Cockburn and Gilbert Achcar, the people of Syria are facing a criminal conspiracy.

It is important to remember that, “Friends of Syria” are the same friends who colluded with George Bush to invade and destroy Iraq. The barbaric invasion and murderous Occupation caused the death of more than 1.5 million innocent Iraqi men, women and children. More than 5 million Iraqis have become displaced refugees. After nine years of murderous Occupation, Iraq and the Iraqi society are in ruins and mired in U.S.-sowed violence.

After Iraq, Libya suffered the same criminal destruction. The barbaric destruction of Libya and the on-going destabilisation of Syria are part of a much larger Zionist agenda designed to: (1) undermine the democratic aspirations of the Arab people (e.g., Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia) and their struggle for social change and liberation (de-democratisation); (2) spread chaos throughout the region, using the people as the “walk-ons”; (3) remove Israel as the enemy of the Arab people by co-opting Arab dictators to act as financiers of U.S. wars and as proxy foot soldiers for U.S. and Israel; and (4) deflect attention away from Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians, including the Judaization of Palestine.

Now, you wonder why “Friends of Syria” are not “Friends of Palestine”. We all know that the Palestinians have been at the receiving end of Israeli violence and Nazi-like occupation for more than six decades. If “Friends of Syria" are concerned about “human rights” abuses, they should call themselves “Friends of Bahrain”. The majority of the people in Bahrain deserve all the support to end state repression and violence against peaceful protesters. Where were “Friends of Syria” when hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians were murdered by U.S.-led invading forces? One wonders where were Amnesty International (AI), the United Nations (UN), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) when thousands of Iraqi men, women and children were tortured, raped and brutally murdered by U.S.-British occupying forces. This classic Western hypocrisy doesn’t end there.

In March 2012, Navi Pillay, the United Nations' Human Rights chief, accused the Syrian Government of orchestrating the violence and targeting children. She said: “Because President al-Assad could simply issue an order to stop the killings and the killings would stop." She added: “Hundreds [of children have been] detained and tortured ... it's just horrendous," Her information, as always, was second-hand, and she has no basic knowledge of Syria, but she proved to be a useful propagandist.

Can you imagine Navi Pillay telling the BBC that, she is “deeply concerned about the fate of thousands, not hundreds of Palestinian children being held in detention by the Israeli regime in cruel and inhumane conditions”? My guess is, if she does, she will have no job at the UN and she will be sent back to South Africa. Since 2000, the Israeli army has killed 1,471 Palestinian children in the Ghettoes of Occupied Palestinian Territories, the majority of whom were aged between 13 and 17 years. Nearly a quarter of all children arrested are held in solitary confinement. Children are forcefully taken from their families, during night raids, imprisoned, beaten and tortured, intimidated and often subjected to electric shocks. Their “crime” is throwing stones at soldiers armed with M16 rifles and tear gas. What does Navi Pillay have to say about the 1.5 million Palestinians imprisoned and terrorise (on a daily basis) by the Israeli fascist army in the world’s biggest open-air Concentration Camp, Gaza? Israel is not Syria, and the Israeli fascist regime is the U.S. most financed and armed regime on the planet.

Despite the violence and economic hardships (caused by U.S. economic warfare) imposed on Syria, President Bashar al-Assad remains the most popular president not only in Syria, but in the region. Syria is not a repressive regime like most of the U.S.-endorsed regimes in the region; it is a one-party state on a reform path. Indeed, al-Assad's commitment to democratic reform is unique in the region and he doesn’t need the US to tell him about democracy. In fact, the U.S. has a shameful and well-documented history of undermining democracy around the world, including Syria in 1849.

Furthermore, as the leader of a small nation, President al-Assad is not an American stooge and has shown great courage in the face of imminent threats by the U.S. and Israel. The U.S. real agenda in Syria is the destruction of the Syrian Government and the ruling Ba’ath Party. It is a Zionist agenda designed to protect Israel and advance Israel’s Zionist expansion.

If the war on Syria continues, it will destroy the third and most progressive, educated and secular nation in the region. It will leave the Middle East backwards and ruled by repressive and weak monarchies subservient to U.S.-Israel Zionist diktats.

As efforts to find a peaceful resolution continue, “Friends of Syria” are fighting tooth and nail to discredit and undermine Kofi Annan’s so-called “peace plan”. If Annan’s plan fails to oust the current Syrian Government – most likely – it will be used as a pretext to justify U.S.-NATO military intervention. As a former UN Secretary-General, Annan served U.S. imperialism with distinction. His current task is to plan a war against the Syrian people, and he shows no pretence which side he is on. Annan’s “peace plan” makes the case for war against Syria much stronger.

Annan’s successor, Ban Ki-Moon, a complicit in U.S.-NATO war crimes against Libya in flagrant violation of the UN Charter, has now turned against Syria, blaming the Syrian Government for the violence. Ban, of course, has no courage to condemn the supply of arms and cash to the terrorists.

If the U.S. and is allies attack Syria, the UN Secretary-General should tell the world what will happen to the million Iraqi refugees who fled to Syria to escape the U.S. murderous Occupation. Ban should tell the world what will happen to the 500,000 Palestinian refugees living in Syria. Will they be massacred in their refugee camps like the Palestinian refugees that were massacred in Sabre and Shatila refugee camp during Israel’s fascist occupation of Lebanon?

“Friends of Syria” have already said that they will take "measures", including unprovoked aggression to oust President al-Assad. On 25 April 2012, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said recently, if the “peace plan” fails; "we would have to move to a new stage with a Chapter Seven resolution (which allows for action that could be backed by force) to stop this tragedy". One wonders why Minister Juppe has no concern to stop the six decades-long tragedy in Palestine and the decade-long tragedy in Afghanistan. And where was Mr Juppe during Iraq’s decades-long tragedy?

If Mr Juppe is really concerned about human rights, he needs to look no further than in his own backyard. France is one of the most anti-Muslim racist countries in Europe, and second only to the Netherlands. Mr Juppe knows very well that France does not give a damn about human rights. Strategic interests override any criminal violation of human rights. Adolf Hitler used “humanitarian” military invasions (“to protect human rights”) as a pretext to justify Nazi’s aggression and war crimes. Today, the U.S. and its allies use the camouflage of “human rights” to manipulate the public to justify aggression and war crimes against small defenceless nations.

Instead of promoting a peaceful resolution, “Friends of Syria” are engaging in a campaign of mischaracterisation of the Syrian Government and the violence. It is obvious why “Friends of Syria” have set conditions for the Syrian Government to fulfil, while leaving the terrorists free to terrorise the Syrian population, including supplying them with bombs, ammunitions and cash at the expense of dialogue and peace.

As Russian foreign ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich rightly said, the terrorists are waging a reign of terror to terrorise the Syrian civilian population and they are not interested in peace. Furthermore, the Israeli website, DEBKAfile reported Monday (30 April2012) that: “The suicide bombings hitting Damascus and Idlib in the last 24 hours were the work of al-Qaeda in Iraq – AQI, whose operatives have been pouring into Syria [from Turkey and Jordan] in the last two weeks.” With allies like al-Qaeda, “Friend of Syria” cannot claim to be friends of the Syrian people.

The meeting of “Friends of Syria” in Istanbul was not a meeting for peace. Rather it was a prelude to instigate more violence and destruction in Syria. Whatever the outcome, “Friends of Syria” will be held to account for their complicity in crimes against the Syrian people.


Ghali Hassan is an independent political analyst living in Australia.

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Axis of Logic columnist Ghali Hassan