19, November 2015 Middle East Turmoil
In the recent Democratic Presidential Debate,
Bernie Sanders was right to hold Hillary Clinton’s feet to the fire for her
hasty, short-sighted decision to topple Saddam Hussein of Iran and Gaddafi of
Libya. Her glib response that it was ‘a mistake’ is a gross understatement.
Neither Hussein nor Gaddafi were an existential threat to the US. Their removal
has plunged the whole Middle East into utter chaos. Sanders was also right to
condemn ‘regime change’ as a core foreign US foreign policy objective. It has been
an unmitigated disaster in destabilizing so many countries in the world.
Western powers, most notably the US, Canada, France, the UK and Israel have
flooded the Middle East, with billions of dollars in weapons sales. The US sold
Saudi Arabia over $30 billion in F-15 Boeing fighter jets and Lockheed F-16 to
bomb Yemen and Syria. The Emirates will be receiving a fleet of Predator drones
to run spying missions. France has just completed a $10 billion contract with
Saudi Arabia.
The Emirates spent nearly $23 billion last
year, more than three times what they spent in 2006.
Saudi Arabia spent more than $80 billion on
weaponry last year and has become the world’s fourth-largest defense market.
Our administration and defense contractors seem to be totally unconcerned that
our great ‘ally’ Saudi Arabia is the epicenter of terrorism and many of the
weapons will be funneled to ISIS and to wage war on Iran and Yemen.
Does trade and profits in
these killing machines triumph concerns for human life? Doesn’t this conflict
with our much touted “core values’? Our current polices are a prescription for
mayhem where most of the victims are innocent civilians. As a first step the US
and are allies should create a weapons free zone in the Middle East. We should
extricate ourselves from regional proxy and sectarian wars and let the Muslim
nations sort out their differences which are rooted in a profound disagreements
over the rightful descendent of Prophet Mohamad.
For
more go to, http://callforsocialjustice.blogspot.com/
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