Franklin Lamb has been on Capitol Hill digging out information on Syria and what comes next. Everything I wrote earlier is true, although I do not stray from East Amherst. Reading his very good article leads me to some further observations. All quotes are from Lamb’s article.
1. I wrote earlier that U.S. entry would lead to more people killed. Washington knows this. It has budgeted for 50,000. “Hand wringing over the loss of 125 lives due to chemical weapons, whoever did use them, pales in comparison to the more 50,000 additional lives that will be lost in the coming months, a figure that Pentagon planners and the White House have ‘budgeted’ as the price of toppling the Assad government.” America’s leaders are cold-blooded murderers, in the same league as Hitler, Stalin and Mao.
2. I wrote earlier that the war would escalate. Washington knows this and intends it. It is considering a no-fly zone and bombing Assad. “A Pentagon source reported that the USA, France, and Britain are considering a decisive decision to reverse the current Assad momentum and quickly construct one in favor of the rebels within a time period not exceeding the end of this summer. Kerry wants ‘ a military strike to paralyze Al-Assad’s military capacities.'”
3. I wrote earlier that poison gas was an excuse, which anyone who reads knows. “The ‘chemical weapons-red line’ is not taken seriously on Capitol Hill for the reason that the same ‘inclusive evidence’ of months ago is the same that is suddenly being cited to justify what may become essentially an all-out war against the Syrian government and anyone who gets in the way. “
4. I pointed out that Obama was fully neocon at this point. Lamb tells us that neocon influence is one reason for his decision. “the war lobby led by Senators McClain and Lindsay Graham is still pounding their drums and claim that Obama would be in violation of his oath of office and by jeopardizing the national security interest of the United States by allowing Iran to essentially own Syria once Assad quells the uprising.” Obama is a weak and cowardly president, in my humble opinion, because we are told again and again that he is reluctant to make these war decisions, yet he still makes them. Lamb writes “Other sources are asserting that Obama actually did not want to invoke direct military aid the rebels fighting to topple the Assad government or even to make use of American military power in Syria for several reasons.” Obama cannot get off the moral hook by saying he really didn’t want to enter this war. He’s doing it, isn’t he? What’s more, he’s done it before. Murder is the name of the game for warmongers. It’s a “price”, like buying a loaf of bread.
5. I wrote that Assad’s wins in the war were what had triggered this latest move by Obama. This is correct. Lamb on why the U.S. is going into this undeclared war: “The short answer is Iran and Hezbollah according to Congressional sources. ‘The Syrian army’s victory at al-Qusayr was more than the administration could accept given that town’s strategic position in the region. Its capture by the Assad forces has essentially added Syria to Iran’s list of victories starting with Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, as well as its growing influence in the Gulf.'” Undeclared and unconstitutional wars are the order of the day for U.S. emperors.
6. Everyone realizes that making war now takes the surveillance state off the headlines. “In addition, Obama has been weakened recently by domestic politics and a number of distractions and potential scandals not least of which is the disclosures regarding the massive NSA privacy invasion.”
7. I warned that widening the war had important implications for neighboring powers. “Once the US and its allies start a no fly zone they will expand it and intensify it as they take countless other military actions to protect its zones until the Syrian government falls. ‘It’s breathtaking to contemplate how this in going to end and how Iran and Russia will respond,’ one source concluded.”
8. Lamb has an item I find stunning. The intelligence chief of Saudi Arabia was present at the meetings of Obama’s team. “Shortly after the meetings began, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia quickly returned to Saudi Arabia from his palace at Casa Blanca, Morocco after receiving a call from his intelligence chief, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. Bander reportedly had a representative at the White House during the meetings with President Obama’s team.” We know that the U.S. has been coordinating and aiding the Saudi-Quatar support of the rebels, but I had no idea that a Saudi would actually be sitting down at the highest counsels of the U.S. executive branch to help make policy.
Obama is busy expanding the American empire, and this is delivering all sorts of serious but relatively invisible blows to this nation, this society and to the world at the level of peace, freedom, morality, progress, and opportunities for better governance.
2:08 pm on June 14, 2013
