Standing With Syria – OpEd

By

American and NATO aggressions must be opposed wherever they surface in the world. That statement ought to be the starting point for anyone calling themselves left, progressive, or anti-war. Of course the aggressors always use a ruse to diminish resistance to their wars of terror. In Syria and elsewhere they claim to support freedom fighters, the moderate opposition and any other designation that helps hide imperialist intervention. They label their target as a tyrant, a butcher, or a modern day Hitler who commits unspeakable acts against his own populace. The need to silence opposition is obvious and creating the image of a monster is the most reliable means of securing that result.

The anti-war movement thus finds itself confused and rendered immobile by this predictable propaganda. It is all too easily manipulated into being at best ineffectual and at worst supporters of American state sponsored terror.

For five years the United States, NATO, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar and Turkey have given arms and money to terrorist groups in an effort to topple Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Some of those bad actors felt flush with success after overthrowing and killing Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. They had high hopes of picking off another secular Arab government. Fortunately, Assad was hard to defeat and the barbarians cannot storm the gates. Most importantly, Russia stopped giving lip service to Assad and finally provided military support to the Syrian government in 2015.

The United States government is responsible for the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria. The so-called barrel bomb doesn’t kill more people than conventional weapons provided by the United States and its puppets. There would not be bombs of any kind, sieges, starving children, or refugees if the Obama administration had not given the green light to the rogues gallery.

Whatever their political beliefs or feelings about Assad, Syrians did not ask the United States to turn their country into a ruin. They don’t want ISIS to behead children, as they infamously did on camera. American presidents, beginning with Jimmy Carter, have all used jihadists at opportune moments when they want regime change. The name of the country under attack changes but the story ends with massive human suffering.

Instead of siding unequivocally with America’s victims some in the anti-war movement instead live in greater fear of being labeled “pro Assad.” Assad didn’t invade Iraq and kill one million people. George W. Bush did that. Assad did not give support to jihadists to destroy Libya, kill 50,000 people, ignite a race war and create another refugee crisis. Barack Obama did that. The list of human rights abuses carried out by the American government is a long one indeed. There is torture in the United States prison system, the largest in the world. American police are given tacit permission to kill three people every day. Yet the fear of being thought of as an Assad supporter is so powerful that it silences people and organizations who should be in the forefront of confronting their country domestically and internationally.

Of course American propaganda is ratcheted up at the very moment that sides must be chosen. Any discussion or debate regarding Syria’s political system was rendered moot as soon as the United States targeted that country for destruction. There is only one question now: when will America tell its minions to stop fighting?

Obama didn’t start a proxy war with an expectation of losing, and Hillary Clinton makes clear her allegiance to regime change. The United States will only leave if Syria and its allies gain enough ground to force a retreat. They will call defeat something else at a negotiating table but Assad must win in order for justice and reconciliation to begin.

Focusing on Assad’s government and treatment of his people may seem like a reasonable thing to do. Most people who call themselves anti-war are serious in their concern for humanity. But the most basic human right, the right to survive, was taken from 400,000 people because the American president decided to add one more notch on his gun. Whether intended or not, criticism of the victimized government makes the case for further aggression.

The al-Nusra Front may change its name in a public relations effort, but it is still al Qaeda and still an ally of the United States. The unpredictable Donald Trump may not be able to explain that he spoke the truth when he accused Obama and Clinton of being ISIS supporters, but the anti-war movement should be able to explain without any problem. Cessations of hostilities are a sham meant to protect American assets whenever Assad is winning. If concern for the wellbeing of Syrians is a paramount concern, then the American anti-war movement must be united in condemning their own government without reservation or hesitation.

Margaret Kimberley

Margaret Kimberley's is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. Her work can also be found at patreon.com/margaretkimberley and on Twitter @freedomrideblog. Ms. Kimberley can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com."

2 thoughts on “Standing With Syria – OpEd

  • September 17, 2016 at 10:00 am
    Permalink

    It is a known fact that the Syrian people were the most prosperous and emancipated in the Arab world. However, many fell prey to the greed card and have now reduced a once prosperous country to a rubble heap, courtesy of the USA and its cronies.

    Reply
  • September 17, 2016 at 10:54 am
    Permalink

    President Obama is a colonialist and a cost minimizer, a pillager, a racist, working for the foreign ministry of Israel. His duty is to maintain Israel dominance in the Middle East and to weaken and to destroy the Arab and the Muslim world. President Obama is depending on terrorists for killing people and destroying land and property. He has been doing that because he scares to send soldiers: Fear of a new Defeat. He pulled his forces from Iraq by bagging people not to attack US troops. He is a cost minimizer because for all the killing and spending he has done the cost has been covered by the Arab’s money. He is a pillager because his main goal is to loot oil and other natural resources from other defenseless nations. In addition, currently he is trying to pillage the Saudi money and other states’ money by blaming them on September 11. President Obama is a racist because the number of black people killed under his administration has risen significantly. He just talks nonsense and he always changes the subject by bringing Mr. Trump’s qualifications, as if he is qualified to be the President. In addition, under his administration Native Americans have been harassed and beaten by oil companies’ guards. Muslim people are killed as well. Since he has become the President, Barak Obama has destroyed Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and now in his way to go to North Africa, Russia, and China. He has killed more than one million innocent people without including the Drone’s killing. He is very scared from President Putin, because when he mentions his name he starts shaking. Whatever stamps are used people must say the truth about the killing, and when people defend Syria or Iraq or Yemen or Libya they are not being paid, as President Obama’s and Hillary Clinton have been paid by the financiers, oil companies, and others. All people resistance will win and the imperialist Vikings will collapse.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *