Obama Ups the Stakes in Syria

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Stephen Lendman
Activist Post

Obama lied. He’s a serial liar. He claims Syria used chemical weapons. His so-called red line was crossed. No verifiable evidence provides proof. Clear facts prove he lied.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry called Obama’s accusations “a caravan of lies” and “fabrications.”

On May 5, Reuters headlined “UN has testimony that Syrian rebels used sarin gas: investigator.”

Geneva-based “UN human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria’s civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.”

“The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapon.”

Under heavy pressure, UN investigators back-tracked. They about-faced. They recanted. They lied. They claimed no “conclusive findings as to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any parties to the conflict.”

Investigators failed “to determine the precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator.”

Clear facts don’t matter. Obama manufactured his own. He twisted reality to fit policy. He replicated a familiar scenario. Doing so reflects another Colin Powell moment.

His infamous February 5, 2003 Security Council speech led to war. It was shameless deception. WMD claims were false. Powell later recanted. It was too late to matter. Iraq was ravaged and destroyed.

Waging war requires reasons to do so. When none exist, they’re invented. At issue is greater intervention in Syria. Lies substitute for truth. Claims about Syria using chemical weapons don’t wash. Repetition gets people to believe them. We’ve seen it all before.

Previous articles explained what bears repeating. Syria is Washington’s war. It was planned years ago. US-enlisted death squads wage it. They’re proxy foot soldiers.

There’s nothing civil about ongoing conflict. Syria was invaded. Internal opposition is largely nonviolent. It wants dialogue, not war.

Washington’s been arming, funding, training and directing insurgents since conflict began. CIA operatives and US special forces are involved.

“Salvador Option” rules apply. They include massacres, torture, other gruesome atrocities, and chemical weapons use blamed on Assad.

At issue is regime change. Washington wants pro-Western puppet leadership replacing Assad. Independent governments aren’t tolerated. Big Lies launch wars. Obama’s heading closer to full-scale US intervention. Libya 2.0 looms.

Alexei Pushkov reacted. He heads Russia’s Duma. It’s the Lower House of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

Obama’s “going the same way” as Bush, he said. “Information about the usage of chemical weapons by Assad is fabricated in the same way as the lie about (Saddam) Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.”

Benjamin Rhodes is White House deputy national security advisor for strategic communication.

“The president has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus, and it has,” he said.

US intelligence determined with “high certainty” that Assad “used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year.”

US intelligence determined nothing. Insurgents alone used chemical weapons. Obama knows it. So do other administration officials and congressional members.

Rhodes turned truth on its head. He regurgitated the official lie. He’s paid to do so. Imperial priorities alone matter.

Up to 150 people died, Rhodes said. Obama ruled out US ground forces. He made no decision regarding a no-fly zone. He stopped short of ordering other US intervention.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

US military planners, responding to a request by the White House to develop options for Syria, recommended the limited no-fly zone along the Syrian border to protect rebels and refugees inside Jordan. 

The plan would create what one official called a ‘no fighting zone’ that would stretch up to 25 miles into Syrian territory along the Jordanian border, preventing Mr. Assad’s forces from launching attacks against the rebels and refugees and protecting US personnel involved in distributing weapons and providing training. 

Under this plan, the US. and its allies would enforce the zone using aircraft flown from Jordanian bases and flying inside the kingdom, according to US officials.

“Suffice it to say (that what’s planned) is going to be different in both scope and scale” than previously, said Rhodes.

We will continue to increase these efforts going forward. I can’t go through an inventory of the type of assistance we are going to provide. 

It’s going to be substantively different from what we were providing certainly before our initial (chemical weapons) assessment in April. 

It’s going to be an increase on both the political and the military side. We have a range of contingency plans drawn up.

Readers can review the full text of Rhodes’ remarks.

Arms shipments will begin. CIA elements will handle them. Agency officials declined comment. On June 17 and 18, G8 leaders meet in Northern Ireland. Syria for sure will be discussed.

Russia prioritizes diplomatic conflict resolution. Obama wants war, not peace. Rogue leaders operate this way. So do Senators John McCain (R. AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R. SC). On June 13, they released a joint statement, saying:

We appreciate the President’s finding that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons on several occasions. We also agree with the President that this fact must affect US policy toward Syria. 

The President’s red line has been crossed. US credibility is on the line. Now is not the time to merely take the next incremental step. Now is the time for more decisive actions. 

The conflict in Syria has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. The United Nations reported today that the death toll in Syria is approaching 93,000. 

Hezbollah is all in. Iran is all in. Iraqi militant groups are flowing into Syria to fight for Assad. Russia continues to provide military and diplomatic support. 

Assad is dramatically increasing his use of airpower against civilians and opposition forces in Syria. A report today stated that Assad’s forces conducted at least 5,000 air-to-ground attacks last month alone. 

A decision to provide lethal assistance, especially ammunition and heavy weapons, to opposition forces in Syria is long overdue, and we hope the President will take this urgently needed step. 

But providing arms alone is not sufficient. That alone is not enough to change the military balance of power on the ground against Assad. 

The President must rally an international coalition to take military actions to degrade Assad’s ability to use airpower and ballistic missiles and to move and resupply his forces around the battlefield by air. 

This can be done, as we have said many times, using stand-off weapons such as cruise missiles. 

We cannot afford to delay any longer. Assad is on the offensive with every weapon in his arsenal and with the complete support of his foreign allies. We must take more decisive actions now to turn the tide of the conflict in Syria.

McCain and Graham are notorious warmongers. They’re war criminals. They support lawless aggression. It’s the supreme crime against peace.

Like Obama officials, they turn truth on its head. They twist reality to fit policies they urge. They recklessly endanger world peace. They threaten humanity. They belong in prison, not high office.

They’re not alone. Likeminded scoundrels infest Washington. They proliferate Big Lies. They spurn fundamental rule of law principles. They do so unapologetically. Imperial priorities alone matter.

America’s heading closer to more war. Obama’s hands already are blood-drenched. He’s a war criminal multiple times over. He can’t wait to kill again.

He bears full responsibility for thousands of Syrian deaths. He plans mass-slaughtering more. His agenda reflects death and destruction.

He exceeded the worst of George Bush. His contempt for humanity is palpable. It may not survive his second term. He’s got more than Syria in mind. The road to Tehran runs through Damascus.

Longstanding war plans threaten the Islamic Republic. Millions more lives are at stake.

Washington Post editors urge war on Syria. Stephen Hadley was Bush II National Security Advisor. James Steinberg is former Obama Deputy Secretary of State. Joe Lieberman was US Senator from Connecticut.

On June 13, their Washington Post op-ed headlined “Iran’s nuclear ambitions demand urgent reaction from international community,” saying:

“(T)he world has become numb to Iranian intransigence, a policy that is unlikely to change no matter who wins” Friday’s presidential election.

A “sense of crisis is warranted,” they claimed. Iran “stonewall(s) the international community at the negotiating table.” It’s heading toward “produc(ing) a nuclear weapon.”

“The United States urgently needs to take several steps that will significantly sharpen the choice faced by Iran’s leaders.”

Obama “should signal unequivocally that the United States is prepared to take military action against Iran absent a diplomatic breakthrough.”

He should publicly announce that it has plans for military action against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities, conduct military exercises in the region in a systematic and sustained way consistent with those plans, deploy US military forces to protect critical assets of our allies in the region and prepare to close down overseas Hezbollah cells and expose Iranian intelligence agents. 

It is no longer possible to shrug off the ongoing diplomatic impasse with Tehran. The United States and the international community must approach this crisis with the clarity, determination and urgency it demands and deserves.

Iran threatens no one. Its nuclear program is peaceful. Washington, European and Israeli official know it. They claim otherwise.

Warmongers infest Washington. Bipartisan scoundrels decide policy. America’s addicted to war. Permanent war is longstanding policy.

Peace is verboten. Today is the most perilous time in world history. Nations that live by war perish by it. America’s demise may take humanity with it.

7 Reasons War with Syria is a Really Bad Idea

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/