4, September
2013 Syria, An Indian
perspective
Indo-Americans have made considerable inroads
professionally and are making a significant impact politically both at the
local, state and national levels. As a nation who was formerly regarded as “the
jewel in the crown” of the British Empire we often bring a unique perspective
to U.S. domestic and foreign policy issues. Sadly, the U.S. media and political
pundits have too often been unduly influenced by their close proximity to the
Washington power elite and have frequently compromised their integrity and the
interests of the American people serving as an echo chamber for government
policies. An independent media, like India Currents, offers a much needed forum
in local Indian customs and traditions. The following article is a small effort
to broaden our collective concerns in matters of war and peace. We should have
learned important lessons in the run up to the wars and Iraq and Afghanistan
but our government is once again beating the war drums and railroading us into
yet another potential armed conflict.
The White House launched a "flood the
zone" blitz campaign to persuade a skeptical Congress to authorize a
limited bombing of Syria. It released a military resolution that authorizes the
president to use the armed forces "as he determines to be necessary and
appropriate in connection with the use of chemical weapons or other weapons of
mass destruction in the conflict in Syria”. The Assad regime must be comforted
by the U.S. position as this gives them the green light to kill as many of the
Syrian opposition forces – with little danger of future U.S. interventions
provided they do not use chemical weapons, a charge that remains unproven. The
slaughter of 100,000 did not invoke such an outrage but the death of 1,400 –
the number is in dispute – has invoked moral indignation.
It is
puzzling to understand how we have suddenly become the paragons of virtue in
excoriating the Assad regime. There is little doubt that Assad, like his father
is a brutal dictator. But have we forgotten the dark chapters of our own
history? – the nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima &
Nagasaki that vaporized tens of thousands of innocent civilians; carpet bombing
of Vietnam with Agent Orange; the use of white phosphorus and depleted uranium
in Iraq; aiding and abetting Saddam Hussein in his chemical attacks on the
Iranians and Kurds?
The London Independent reported that the British
Government was under fire for 'breathtaking laxity' in its arms controls after
it emerged that officials authorized the export to Syria of two chemicals
capable of being used to make a nerve agent such as sarin a year ago,"
allowing a British company export licenses for the dual-use substances ... in
2012." It certainly seems that profits triumph human life.
A US attack would likely
rekindle collective memories of Arabs and Muslims outrage of previous Western
hegemonic attacks. The bogus claims of Saddam Hussein’s WMD’s followed by the
U.S. ‘shock and awe’ attacks on Iraq is deeply seared into Arab minds who are
highly distrustful of our humanitarian intervention claims. Iraq has been torn
apart by sectarian violence triggered by death squads whose chief architect was
James Steele – a U.S. veteran of the dirty wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Several questions arise out
of Secretary of State, John Kerry’s testimony to Congress.
How did U.S. intelligence come up with such a
precise number of fatalities of 1,429 including 426 children which contradicts
U.N reports ‘boot on the ground assessment’ in an extremely hostile area?
"Anthony Cordesman, a former senior defense
official who is now with the ... Center for Strategic and International
Studies, challenged Kerry’s death toll statistics charging that he had been
"sandbagged into using an absurdly over-precise number ... the number
didn’t agree with either the British assessment of 'at least 350
fatalities" or even the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which
confirmed 502 dead, including about a hundred children.
If the assault and damage
inflicted on the Syrian regime is limited – a Goldilocks strike, Assad could be elevated to become a new ‘Bin Laden’
hero – resisting the military might of the U.S. Here again, the US
administration comments were contradictory – Kerry the military strikes would
be “unbelievably small’ was countered by Obama “we don’t do pinpricks.”
Mark Seibel of McClatchy, co-author of the
article, "To Some, U.S. Case for Syrian Gas Attack, Strike Has Too Many
Holes”, argues that a U.S strike might
weaken Assad’s military capability but would have unintended consequences by
strengthening the more extremist elements of the opposition, namely, al-Nusra,
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which are two al-Qaeda-affiliated
organizations. These groups have been at the forefront of all major attacks
against Assad’s government forces.
The U.S now claims it had "collected
streams of human, signals and geospatial intelligence" that showed the
Assad government was preparing for an attack three days before the event. “If
this is true, why didn’t the U.S. warn the opposition of a planned attack and
avert the fatalities?
Meanwhile,
the US and Russia continue to finger point claiming their ‘allies’ are
innocent.
In another
stranger twist, Dale Gavlak of the Associated Press interviewed a number of
rebels who admitted they received chemical weapons from Saudi Arabia. They
further admitted they had little knowledge of their capability and accidently
triggered the explosions that led to the tragic loss of life. According to the
residents of Ghouta, Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan supplied the weapons via a
Saudi militant, Abu Ayesha. They were supposed to be delivered to an Al-Qaeda
offshoot, Jabhat al-Nusra, but got intercepted by a group of inexperienced
rebels. If this is true, it completely derails the US rush to war. It further
erodes US credibility, tarnishes Obama’s leadership and might precipitate the
downfall of his presidency.
Fortunately, in a bizarre twist of events,
Assad has now agreed to destroy his stockpile of chemical weapons and has given
President Obama a much needed lifeline to postpone a potential defeat by
Congress. Perhaps, most disturbing is the reported in-fighting, rebel-on rebel,
among opposition forces with Al Qaeda forces determined to kill Syrian
resistance fighters in an operation they have dubbed “expunging filth”.
Vladimir Putin, whose New York op ed
article reeked of hypocrisy in projecting himself as the guardian of human
rights and justice, nevertheless deflated the US self-promoted claim of being
‘exceptional’. A country that has incarcerated more people than the rest of the
world, whose have-nots are increasingly marginalized, where educational
standards have declined precipitously, a nation that is experiencing horrific
acts of gun violence and whose government is paralyzed with indecision by its
deeply entrenched ideology and is beholden to rivers of money flowing from its
corporate masters can hardly merit the mantle of ‘exceptionalism’.
The western brokered agreement on
destroying chemical weapons may be largely irrelevant to Syrian who are being
killed by AK-47’s, missiles and bombs. Valerie Amos, UN humanitarian chief
estimates 7 million Syrians are in critical need of aid. One-third of Syrians
have been displaced equivalent in American terms to 100 million.
Bio – Jagjit Singh is a retired computer
professional. He is an active member of Amnesty International and is a founder
and director of a non-profit, company Aid for Indian Development which supports
numerous charities in India; he is an avid writer for the past 50 years.
