SOL:
CONGRESSIONAL HAWKS WANT TO FORCE THE US INTO WWIII BEFORE THE YEAR'S
END. THIS MUST BE DONE PRIOR TO PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP FROM BEING SWARN
INTO THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Congressional Hawks Rush to Intensify War in Syria
Global Research, November 22, 2016
Hawks pass HR5732
Late
in the day Tuesday November 15, Congress convened in special session.
With normal rules suspended, they passed House Resolution 5732 the
“Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act”. The resolution calls for
intensifying already harsh sanctions on Syria, assessing implementation
of No Fly Zone in Syria and escalating efforts to press criminal charges
against Syrian officials. HR5732 claims to promote a negotiated
settlement in Syria but, as analyzed by Friends Committee for National Legislation, imposes preconditions which would actually make that more difficult.
There was 40 minutes of “debate”
with six representatives (Royce, Engel, Ros-Lehtinen, Kildee, Smith,
and Curbelo) speaking in favor of the resolution. There were few other
Congressional representatives present in Congress. The House Foreign
Affairs Committee stated that the resolution was passed “unanimously” without mentioning the special conditions.
The “Non Controversial” Resolution that could lead to World War III
According to wikipedia “Suspension of the rules
is a procedure generally used to quickly pass non-controversial bills
in the United States House of Representatives ….such as naming Post
Offices…” In this case, the resolution calls for evaluating and developing plans for a“No Fly Zone” which is an act of war.
This is obviously controversial and it seems clear the resolution
should have been debated and discussed under normal rules with a normal
amount of Congressional presence and debate.
The
motivation for bypassing normal rules and rushing the bill through
without debate was articulated by the bill’s author and ranking Democrat
Eliot Engel: “We cannot delay action on Syria any further…. if we don’t
get this legislation across the finish line in the next few weeks, we
are back to square one.” The current urgency may be related to the
election results since Trump has spoken out against “regime change”
foreign policy. As much as they are critical of Obama for not doing
more, Congressional neoconservatives are concerned about the prospect of
a President who might move toward peace and away from war.
The Caesar Fraud
HR5732
is titled the “Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act”. Foreign Affairs
Committee Chair Ed Royce (R-Ca) explained that the resolution is named
after “the brave Syrian defector known to the world as Caesar, who
testified to us the shocking scale of torture being carried out within
the prisons of Syria.” In reality, the Caesar story was a grand deception
involving the CIA with funding from Qatar to sabotage the 2014 Geneva
negotiations. The 55,000 photos which were said to show 11,000 torture
victims have never been publicly revealed. Only a tiny number of photos
have been publicized.
However,
in 2015 Human Rights Watch was granted access to view the entire set.
They revealed that almost one half the photos show the opposite of what
was claimed: instead of victims tortured by the Syrian government, they
actually show dead Syrian soldiers and civilian victims of car bombs and
other terror attacks! The “Caesar” story, replete with masked
‘defector’, was one of the early propaganda hoaxes regarding Syria.
False Claims that the US has been doing nothing
One of the big lies regarding Syria is that the US has been inactive. Royce says, “The
administration has decided not to decide. And that itself,
unfortunately, has set a course where here we sit and watch and the
violence only worsens. Mr. Speaker, America has been sitting back and
watching these atrocities for far too long. Vital U.S. national security
interests are at stake.” The ranking Democrat Eliot Engel said,
“Four
years ago I thought we should have aided the Free Syrian Army. They
came to us in Washington and begged us for help… they were simply
looking for weaponry. I really believe if we had given it to them, the
situation in Syria would have been different today.”
This
is nonsense. The US was actively coordinating, training and supplying
armed opposition groups beginning in late 2011. When the Qadaffi
government was toppled in Fall 2011, the CIA oversaw the theft of the
Libyan armories and shipment of weapons to Syrian armed opposition as
documented in the Defense Intelligence Agency report of October 2012.
These
weapons transfers were secret. For the public record it was
acknowledged that the US was supplying communications equipment to the
armed opposition while Saudi Arabia and Qatar were supplying weaponry.
This is one reason that Saudi purchases of weapons skyrocketed during
this time period; they were buying weapons to replace those being
shipped to the armed opposition in Syria. It was very profitable for US
arms manufacturers.
Huge weapons transfers to the armed opposition in Syria have continued to the present. This past Spring, Janes Defense reported the
details of a U.S. delivery of 2.2 million pounds of ammunition, rocket
launchers and other weaponry to the armed opposition.
Claims
that the US has been inactive are baseless. In reality the US has done
everything short of a direct attack on Syria. And the US military is
starting to cross that barrier. On Sept 17 the US air coalition did a
direct attack on the Syrian Army in Deir Ezzor, killing 80 Syrian
soldiers and enabling ISIS to launch an attack on the position. Claims
that it was a “mistake” are highly dubious.
The
claims by Congressional hawks that the US has been ‘inactive’ in the
Syrian conflict are part of the false narrative suggesting the US must
“do something” which leads to a No Fly Zone and full scale war.
Ironically, these calls for war are masked as “humanitarian”. And never
do the proponents bring up the case of Libya where the US and NATO “did
something”: destroyed the government and left chaos.
Congress as a Fact-Free House of Propaganda
With
only a handful of representatives present and no debate, the six
Congress members engaged in unrestrained propaganda and misinformation.
The leading Democrat, Eliot Engel, said “We’re going into the New Year
2017, Assad still clings to power, at the expense of killing millions of
his citizens.” That number is way off anyone’s charts.
Rep
Kildee said “The world has witnessed this terrible tragedy unfold
before our eyes. Nearly half a million Syrians killed. Not soldiers –
men, women, children killed.”
The official text of the resolution says,
“ It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) Bashar al-Assad's murderous actions against the people of Syria have caused the deaths of more than 400,000
civilians…”
The above accusations – from “millions of citizens” to “half a million” to “400,000 civilians” – are all preposterous lies.
Credible estimates of casualties in the Syrian conflict range from 300,000 to 420,000. The opposition supporting Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates the documented 2011-2016 death toll as follows:
killed pro Syrian forces – 108,000
killed anti government forces – 105,000
killed civilians – 89,000
In
contrast with Congressional and media claims, civilians comprise a
minority of the total death count and the largest casualty group is
those fighting in defense of the the Syrian state. These facts are
ignored and never mentioned because they point to the reality versus the
propaganda narrative which allows the USA and allies to continue
funding terrorism and a war of aggression against Syria.
The
Congressional speakers were in full self-righteous mode as they accused
the Syrian government of “committing crimes against humanity and war
crimes against civilians including murder, torture and rape. No one has
been spared from this targeting, even children.” A naive listener would
never know that the Syrian government is primarily fighting the Syrian
branch of Al Qaeda including thousands of foreigners supplied and paid
by foreign governments.
The
Congressional speakers go on to accuse the Syrian military of
“targeting” hospitals, schools and markets. A critical listener might
ask why they would do that instead of targeting the Al Qaeda terrorists
and their allies who launch dozens and sometimes hundreds of hell cannon missiles into government held Aleppo every day.
The Congressional propaganda fest would not be complete without mention of the “White Helmets”.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said “We (previously)
heard the testimony of Raed Saleh of the Syrian White Helmets. These
are the doctors, nurses and volunteers who actually, when the bombs
come, run towards the areas that have been hit in order to try to get
the injured civilians medical treatment…They have lost over 600 doctors
and nurses.” This is more Congressional nonsense.
There
are no nurses or doctors associated with the White Helmets. The
organization was created by the USA and UK and heavily promoted by a “shady PR firm”.
The White Helmets operate solely in areas controlled by Nusra and
associated terrorist groups. They do some rescue work in the conflict
zone but their main role is in the information war manipulating
public opinion. The White Helmets actively promote US/NATO intervention
through a No Fly Zone. Recently the White Helmets has become a major
source of claims of innocent civilian victims in east Aleppo. Given the
clear history of the White Helmets, these claims should be treated with
skepticism. What exactly is the evidence? The same skepticism needs to
be applied to video and other reports from the Aleppo Media Center. AMC
is a creation of the Syrian Expatriates Organization whose address on K Street, Washington DC indicates it is a US marketing operation.
What is really going on?
The
campaign to overthrow the Syrian government is failing and there is
possibility of a victory for the Syrian government and allies. The
previous flood of international jihadi recruits has dried up. The
Syrian Army and allies are gaining ground militarily and negotiating
settlements or re-locations with “rebels” who previously terrorized
Homs, Darraya (outer Damascus) and elsewhere. In Aleppo the Syrian army
and allies are tightening the noose around the armed opposition in east
Aleppo.
This
has caused alarm among neoconservative lawmakers devoted to Israel,
Saudi Arabia and U.S. empire. They are desperate to prevent the Syrian
government from finally eliminating the terrorist groups which the West
and allies have promoted for the past 5+ years.
“Pro Israel” groups
have been major campaigners for passage of HR5732. The name of Simon
Wiesenthal is even invoked in the resolution. With crocodile tears fully
flowing, Rabbi Lee Bycel wrote “Where is the Conscience of the World?” as he questioned why the “humanitarian” HR5732 was not passed earlier.
Israeli
interests are one of the primary forces sustaining and promoting the
conflict. Syria is officially at war with Israel which continues to
occupy the Syrian Golan Heights; Syria has been a key ally of the
Lebanese resistance; and Syria has maintained its alliance with Iran. In
2010 Secretary of State Clinton urged Syria
to break relations with Hezbollah, reduce relations with Iran and come
to settlement with Israel. The Syrian refusal to comply with these
Washington demands was instrumental in solidifying Washington’s hostility.
Congressional
proponents of HR5732 make clear the international dimension of the
conflict. Royce explains “It is Russia, it is Hezbollah, that are the
primary movers of death and destruction…it is the IRGC fighters from
Iran”. Engel echoes the same message: “Yes, we want to go after Assad’s
partners in violence…along with Iranian and Hezbollah forces”.
These
statements are in contrast with the analysis of some writers who
believe Israel is not deeply opposed to the Damascus government. For
example Phyllis Bennis recently wrote that
belief in an “arc of resistance” has been “long debunked” and that “the
Syrian regime …. often plays a useful role for US and Israeli
interests.”
It’s
remarkable that this faulty analysis continues to be propounded. In
words and deeds Israel has made its position on Syria crystal clear.
Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren explained in an interview:
“we
always wanted [President] Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the
bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by
Iran … the greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that
extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime
as the keystone in that arc.”
What Will Happen Now?
If
the Syrian government and allies continue to advance in Aleppo, Deir
Ezzor, outer Damascus and the south, the situation will come to a head.
The enemies of Syria – predominately the USA, Gulf Countries, NATO and
Israel – will come to a decision point. Do they intervene directly or
do they allow their regime project to collapse?
HR5732 is an effort to prepare for direct intervention and aggression.
One
thing is clear from the experience of Libya: Neoconservatives do not
care if they leave a country in chaos. The main objective is to
destabilize and overthrow a government which is too independent. If the
USA and allies cannot dominate the country, then at least they can
destroy the contrary authority and leave chaos.
What
is at stake in Syria is whether the USA and allies Israel, Saudi
Arabia, etc. are able to destroy the last secular and independent Arab
country in the region and whether the US goal of being the sole
superpower in the world prevails.
The rushed passing of HR5732 without debate is indicative that:
* “regime change” proponents have not given up their war on Syria
* they seek to escalate US aggression.
*
the US Congress is a venue where blatant lies are said with impunity
and where violent actions are advanced behind a cynical and amoral
veneer of “humanitarianism” and crocodile tears.
Rick Sterling is an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement
The original source of this article is Global Research
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