By Jamal Kanj
The myopic view of the world’s most powerful men in Washington never ceases to amaze me. I am reminded of the 1980s when then American president Ronald Reagan compared the Afghan Mujahideen to America’s founding fathers.
Indeed, Reagan’s heroes became “founding fathers” but for a new breed of extremism guided by blind hate that found fertile ground wherever America’s misguided intervention took place: Iraq, Libya and now in Syria. Al Qaeda’s atavism is inherent in America’s wars in the Arab world.
Just like Colin Powell before him and the conservative Republican’s Israeli firsters, John Kerry’s “irrefutable” evidence was crafted by the Democratic wings of Zionist Liberals in the dens of the Pentagon and the halls of the State Department in a made for Israel war to be executed by American soldiers and paid for by American tax payers.
Not surprising that the most influential foreign lobby in Washington, the American Israel Action Committee (AIPAC), has been lobbying for months for a US intervention in Syria, exactly as they did over 10 years ago to prepare for the US invasion of Iraq.
The recent hullabaloo about Syria’s use of chemical weapons is part of a calculated ploy that has little to do with the poor Syrians, but part of AIPAC and Israel’s overarching goal of disarming its enemies while it remains the sole Middle Eastern nation with proven arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Demanding democracy for Syria and the crocodile tears over the innocent Syrian children is a red herring to demilitarize a weakened and fragmented Syria, just as they did for Iraq after Saddam Hussein.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State suggested that Syria can avert an American attack if only they turn in their chemical weapons. Next day the State Department spokesman clarified that Kerry was making an off the cuff “rhetorical argument” and not a serious proposal.
Kerry was dishonest in both his claim of privileged classified evidence and in the off the cuff remarks. As in Iraq, time is certain to expose the weapons claim but his “rhetorical argument” was immediately refuted by US President, who disclosed discussing a proposal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the recent economic summit in St Petersburg – declaring on American TV that “this is something that is not new. I’ve been discussing this with President Putin for some time now.”
Like Saddam Hussein, dictators are motivated to compromise only when their hold on power is threatened. This explains the Assad government’s rush to welcome the Russian repackaged Kerry’s proposal for establishing an Iraqi style international supervision regimen to control the purported stockpile of chemical weapons.
In expressing the government’s willingness to co-operate with the Russian’s proposal, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem claimed it was done “for the sake of protecting our people and children and country.”
This is at a time when his government – along with the opposition – seems little troubled murdering Syrian children every day. While an American strike would have likely killed more innocent Syrians, it would have done nothing to end the suffering of the Syrian people.
It is important for those in both sides who love Syria more than they hate each other to realize that any punitive strikes against the supposed stock piles of chemical weapons have nothing to do with its alleged use or future democracy, but more to do with creating the necessary conditions to remove Syria’s military capabilities in challenging Israel hegemony on the acquisition of WMD.
Sadly, the regime and the opposition are creating those conditions, while America continues to be ready to wage proxy wars to ensure Israel’s dominion in the region.
– Jamal Kanj (www.jamalkanj.com) writes weekly newspaper column and publishes on several websites on Arab world issues. He is the author of “Children of Catastrophe,” Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
