The Rhetoric:
“Obama sought to win over a war-weary American public on Wednesday evening by saying intervention in Syria, where more than 100,000 people have been killed in 2 1/2 years of civil war, would serve U.S. national security interests.”
“The United States, Britain and France say they can act with or without a U.N. Security Council resolution”
-Reuters report [http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/08/29/syria-crisis-idINDEE97S0CM20130829]
The Real:
I know what is happening there in Syria. Even I want Assad gone.
The pertinent question is whether the strategy of bombing entire nation just like Afghanistan or Iraq or Yugoslavia and host of other nations in last 2 decades is right and appropriate. Writing is on the wall.. if history is to be ignored, then we are better off living in Mars and Venus than on this planet.
Certainly, defence and pharmaceutical sectors contribute significantly to US GDP. Coincidently, they are the first direct beneficiaries of any war..!! Again, these invaded nations also happen to be resource rich but that’s a strict no-no in media spin.
And I am in no mood to attribute child like innocence to US that it was caught by surprise. The issues in Syria are too well known since its independence from France and latter succession from UAF/Egypt. And last decade was too well documented. This so called peace-dove coalition led by US should have regulated Arms and Chemical sales to the country. The biggest beneficiaries yet again have been US and Russia alike in the arms and chemicals sale to Syrian government and extremists rebels alike.
The day Assad won with 97.6% votes, that was the day when alarm bells should have rung. Also, the extremist religious terror groups have become more active in Middle East (ME) and former soviet nations. A concerted effort led by UN should have started and been seen to be at work.
Unfortunately, again US led coalition has reduced UN only for photo-ops for celebrity peace ambassadors. But then US was also too busy bombing Afganistan and then Iraq and other nations intermittently.
No one is asking or expecting US to become custodian of world peace. But its history of invasions is too well known. Its straight-forward self-serving. Humanity is last on the list of its purpose and first on the media briefing list.
Look at Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Egypt (though no ground military action there, but certainly civil unrest was in part sponsored and supported by US led coalition).. More people have died during and after the military intervention than by former dictators or extremists.
Every nation which US has invaded in last 20 years has suffered in terms of humanity. There is no political stability, no economic stability, masses suffering massive malnutrition deaths.. As always, there will be massive displacement of people.. Refugee’s will keep suffering and try to infiltrate into other nations to live but will keep getting caught and prosecuted for being aliens..!! And there is no foreseeable stability in sight for these invaded nations.
Assad may have had many human rights violations to his credit. But there is no denying that many of the former soviet nations are today also victims of extremist-islamic terror groups. Syria, Chechnya, Yugosalvia, Russia. It has spread even to China. These extremists groups are either linked to Al-queda or draw moral ideology / inspiration from Al-queda. The recent alledged chemical attack in Syria should be investigated with reference to activities of these extremist groups also.
We have been fed the same human rights and weapons of mass destruction story over and over again before every invasion. Look at Afghanistan. The Hamid Karzai government is now being forced by the same USA to strike a deal with Taliban-Al-Queda extremists groups against which USA forced it self to go on a war after promoting them in 70’s and 80’s to keep check on USSR. The extremist violance is on rise in Iraq.
The same is the case in Egypt. Former president Hossine Mubarak may have violated human rights to keep himself in power and also loot wealth of his own nation. But, Egypt never exported terror. The terror groups were kept in check. Post Tahrir-square / Arab spring, the main mediator and peace broker of Middle East (ME) Mubarak was overthrown and was replaced by Muslim Brotherhood extremists. Now was USA so naive to not know who is going to replace the Mubarak. Was there no intel on it. Ofcourse, it is a different matter that Mubarak outlived his utility for USA. Yasser Arafat of Palastine and Gaddafi of Libya gone to graves and military apparatus firmly in place in Iraq, there was no need for a ME peace-broker. No bonhomie required at Camp David to pacify Arafats and Gaddafi’s.
Wars and invasions in last two decades have made world more unsafe and coincidently it is the same coalition which has led the wars and invasions. It begs a larger question. Is there no mechanism or apparatus in place in UN to discuss the matters? Can UN not resolve the conflicts including leading a war, if required? Or is it that UN supremacy is being systematically undermined by a certain group / block / coalition!
History is witness that damage and enduring pain it has inflicted on people of war zones far exceed the perceived projected benefits.
The nations with localised terror groups / dictators have been converted in to full-fledged terror exporting nations. Now these newly-converted-terror-exporting-rogue-nations have become everybody’s business. There you go. Its now a world headache and every nation will have to contribute its part to keep world ‘safer’.
We need to grow-up to find solutions better than stone-age / medieval approach of thrashing and bashing nations left, right and centre for acts of few rogue politicians. Nations have been destroyed, ordinary people, women, children are still suffering the damage caused in invaded nations in last two decades.
If Russia and China are perceived to be funding and supplying arms to Syria, then interests of US is also too well known – the benefits the war brings to its defence and pharma sectors. Besides, Syria being, so very surprising coincidently, oil rich nation..!!
And no one is talking Dafur or Sudan or Ghana as US and China have already marked their territories there in diamond and gold rich regions. No one is even bothered for the dark continent which employs child soldiers in thousands or even millions.
But, its got to be Syria. Irrespective whether UN Chemical inspectors find any wrong doing on part of incumbent government or not. Its got to get bombed for its physical proximity to Iran, Russia and China and most importantly its Oil. Its all geo-political power assertion and business gains for these so-called self-proclaimed saviours of humanity.
The whole approach is wrong. It is just wrong. I do not believe the media spin which US successfully manages to create and loyal media which propagates it world over.
What bigger proof does anyone need then the History itself – just check the past record of invaded nations in last 2 decades and conclude whether they are better-off or worst-off.
What really perplexes me is that collective intelligence of 7 billion people cannot even think of a better strategy, a better option.
In that case, clothes and gadgets apart, we are still living in stone-age.
[The blog originally appeared on August 30, 2013 at my old blog site here: http://ajayrdave.blogspot.com/2013/08/bombing-for-humanity.html]