Syria, An Indian Perspective 9-4-13

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.