How Everyone Except Refugees Claimed Victory in the Syrian Missile Strike and War

Traditionally, wars were tolerated because they ended. Reparations were agreed upon too, and refugees were allowed to resettle-or at least what remained of them. But with the ongoing war in Syria and the recent U.S.-led, some are starting to think the war may be used to claim endless victories so as to manage domestic and international perceptions.

Securing Peace Or Securing Opposition to Rivals
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, for instance, just gained legitimacy as one who wants a secure peace by practicing self-restraint and not retaliating. He also said the strikes proved U.S. aggression, claimed the U.S.’s behavior signified a state “unworthy” of a permanent UN Security Council Seat, and approved more troops and weapons.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad’s claimed victory too. Along with a rise in popularity and anti-U.S. protests, state media boasted 13 of the 103 missiles were destroyed. (Some reports said 73.) He played on U.S. belligerence and war crimes as well, reporting a number of civilian casualties and bombing of research facilities and educational labs.

Even China, the first superpower outside those directly involved, seemed to have declared moral victory by pointing out that the missile strikes violated the U.N. Charter and its principles of international law. It also reminded people that the Syrian gas attack should’ve been investigated, since the U.S. uses false intelligence to stage deceptive wars.

Managing Perception Is of Vital Importance
President Donald Trump won too, or at least when it came to energizing his pro-war base. His decision to strike Syria moreover quieted many scandals, such as hush money paid to a doorman who knew of a love-child and an adult film actress. It diverted attention away as well from a raid on his personal lawyer’s office and James Comey’s expose.

Forgotten was also his spur-of-the-moment Twitter Diplomacy over an unsubstantiated chemical attack that wasn’t yet investigated. The attack helped his Commander-in-Chief status as well and Tough Guy image. Calling Syria’s leader “Animal Assad” and warning of more strikes, he also took a swipe at Barack Obama’s Syrian “redline.”

Neoconservatives, like John Bolton and Nikki Haley, won. In fact, U.S. troops in Syria won’t be leaving the country until “all” military goals are accomplished. Adding that those goals no longer begin and end with ISIS reassured conservatives that the war against Iran will continue, and neos will still get to dream of redrawing the Middle East.

Breaking Every Moral Restraint
It wasn’t broadcasted but the Pentagon, intelligence agencies, and arms manufacturers claimed victory in the Syrian War. They actually have a lot to gain from another endless trillion dollar war. Wars like Syria, to say the least, are the health of their war-making industries. It also arouses patriotic emotions keeps people in a perpetual state of fear.

America’s corporate pro-war spin machine is winning too, propagating the narrative that war has become a normal way of American life. It will also boost international arms sales around the world, pave the way for the U.S. to overthrow more sovereign states, manufacture terror incidents to blame on others, and along the way increase their ratings.

There’s the Deep State too. Trump used to tweet: “We should stay the hell out of Syria, the “rebels” are just as bad as the current regime. WHAT WILL WE GET FOR OUR LIVES AND $BILLIONS SPENT ON WAR?” He doesn’t know it but “We should start rebuilding our own country…” is now “We’re going to continue to build the Deep State.”

Self-Serving Interests and Irrational War Claim Victory
Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron won. They alleged Syrian chemical attack bolstered Britain’s Skripal Case-which some say was a false flag-and diverted attention away from London’s crime wave. And since bygone mandates are always hard to discard, France’s Macron was able to “imagine” he convinced Trump to keep U.S. troops in Syria.

Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel won as well. Whereas Turkey and Israel would like to see the Assad regime disappear, enlarging their own territories, Iran denounced the U.S. as an aggressor and war criminal too. Meanwhile, the Syrian War and missile strikes took the Saudi Arabia-led genocide in Yemen off the front papers-if it was ever there.

Since the Syrian War and missile strike is the kind of war that’s fought for personal gain and waged by illegitimate bodies, some think Irrational War was the ultimate winner-by far. It’s the kind of war where there’s no overriding motive to defeat an opponent or secure a peace, and disregards all the ethical underpinnings to armed conflicts.

Civilians and Refugees Lose
With 11 million Syrians having already fled their homes since the outbreak of the civil war in March 2011, including a staggering death toll of 500,000 [1], Syrians have lost the most. Some, in fact, warn the war is not the continuation of politics by other means, but the continuation of cynicism by powerful leaders and corporations for profit and empire.

Given the realization that trillions have been spent on the war at the expense of fleeing refugees, others moreover fear that the justification for a new rule of law is in the making- one that doesn’t bend in favor of civilians or refugees. If so, war isn’t the only thing that gives some meaning. So do atrocities and either seeing or making others suffer.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) www.hrw.org. “Syria-World Report 2018: Syria/Human Rights Watch.” Human Rights Watch.