“The violent
destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and
alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most
attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institutions which
have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe,
they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.” Federalist Papers
It’s reassuring to see the American public push back against
President Obama’s itch to bomb Syria. After more than a decade of continuous
wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, plus lesser skirmishes in Somalia and
Yemen and Pakistan, with no end to the War on Terror on the horizon, the people
have soured on war.
This doesn’t mean that gun-slinging politicians like John
McCain or swaggering diplomats like Secretary of State John Kerry have lost
their fascination with Shock & Awe military operations, and I expect my own
senator, Dianne Feinstein, to jump on the bandwagon and beat the war drum with
both of her manicured hands.
As usual, the hypocrisy of the United States is staggering. When
Iraq employed chemical weapons against Iran in the 1980’s, we didn’t bat an eye
because Iran was by then our sworn enemy. We helped Iraq’s dictator acquire the
materials needed to produce chemical weapons, with full understanding of who he
intended to use them against.
Nor should we conveniently forget – during the media barrage
to convince us that the US has no other option but to attack Syria -- that the
US is the world’s foremost arms dealer, purveyor of fine cluster munitions,
land mines, drones, fighter aircraft and attack helicopters. Quite often these
weapons wind up in the hands of autocrats; today’s ally can quickly turn into
tomorrow’s enemy. The US clearly has the military power to act as the world’s constable,
but when it comes to moral authority, it has no standing whatsoever.
If President Obama’s full-court PR press works and Congress
authorizes military action against Syria, and the cruise missiles fly, and the Smart
munitions zoom at their targets with much-hyped precision, what will be the
result? By “degrading” the Assad regime’s military capability who will the US
be aiding? The rebels? But who are the rebels and what are their aims for
Syria? Will they be more or less aligned with the evil regime in neighboring
Iran? More or less hostile to Europe and the US? Does anyone have any idea?
After the blatant lies and propaganda that preceded the
invasion and occupation of Iraq, the revelations of widespread domestic spying
by the NSA and other arms of the national security apparatus, the attacks on
journalists and their sources, the killing of innocent civilians in Yemen and
Pakistan, after all this I can’t see how any sober person can believe any
pronouncement coming from the US government. President Obama talks about
transparency at the same time he shuts out the lights and locks the door.
The use of chemical weapons is barbaric, and the world is
right to condemn Syria, but there are other ways – diplomatic and economic – to
punish Assad.
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