MEANWHILE, in the Mediterranean, warships of the United States Navy’s sixth fleet, are moving into position for a cruise missile strike on Syria. Once again, without the sanction of the United Nations; without independent verification of the claims levelled against a fellow UN member; and without even the slightest threat to its own citizens, property or territory; the United States Government is about to commit an act of military aggression against a state with which it is not at war.
Snarling at Uncle Sam’s heels are those two former imperial jackals, Britain and France. These two nations, we need to remind ourselves, are the ones responsible for igniting the last 100 years of ethnic and religious conflict in the Middle East.
In 1916, at the height of the First World War, Britain and France cynically divvied up the former territories of the Ottoman Empire between them. Under the infamous Sykes-Picot agreement, France got Syria and Lebanon, and the UK got Palestine, Trans-Jordan and Iraq. A year later, on 2 November 1917, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, promised the Jewish people a homeland in Palestine – blithely ignoring the fact that the territory was already populated, overwhelmingly, by Arab Muslims.
A little later, in 1943, Uncle Sam’s boots hit the Middle East. It was under President Franklin Roosevelt that the House of Saud was guaranteed US protection in return for access to what the New Zealand oil prospector, Frank Holmes, assured his American clients was a veritable ocean of oil lying untapped beneath the Arabian desert.
Fast forward 13 years, to 1956, when Britain and France use a jacked-up Israeli invasion of Egypt to justify their joint military operation to “protect” the recently nationalised Suez Canal. The Americans, who have not been invited to participate in this particular Anglo-French adventure, decide to show these two imperial relics what happens to countries foolhardy enough to do a little business on the side without their American Godfather’s permission. Britain, France and Israel are forced to withdraw their troops. Sir Anthony Eden, the British PM, resigns in disgrace.
War and Western imperialism; Western imperialism and war: these have been the curse and burden of the Middle East’s largely Arab population for the last 100 years.
During the First World War, T.E. Lawrence, “Lawrence of Arabia”, persuaded its petty princes and tribal chieftains that a single Arab kingdom, embracing the whole of the Arabian peninsula and what is now Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon, lay within their grasp. Had the British and the French allowed this promise to be kept, the Arabian Federal Republic would now be a significant global power.
Except, of course, that even as Lawrence was promising the Arabs a rebirth of Islamic greatness, his masters were taking every possible step to ensure that they remained weak and divided.
It’s 2013 now, and preserving Arab weakness and division remains the firm policy of the United States and its Western allies. Why else would they prop up absolutist dynasties like the House of Saud? Why else would they back military dictators across the Muslim World? Why else would they send their armies to depose any Arab leader foolish enough to operate outside the “protection” of Uncle Sam and his imperial jackals?
BUT, “Hang on,” I hear you say, “this is about Bashar al Assad’s use of chemical weapons – Sarin Gas – against his own people. Women and children. The US, Britain and France are merely attempting to fulfil their internationally recognised ‘responsibility to protect’ the Syrian population from ‘atrocities’ and ‘war crimes’ about to be perpetrated by their rulers.”
All very noble, but the use of Sarin gas has yet to be confirmed by the team of United Nations inspectors already on the scene. Nor has there been any independent verification that, even if Sarin has been used, it was with the full authority and at the explicit behest of the Syrian Government. The possibility that chemical weapons may have been unleashed by rogue elements within the Syrian armed forces, or, even worse, by one or more of the fanatical Islamist militia groups making up the Syrian Armed Resistance, has yet to be fully explored.
Speaking on Radio NZ-National’s Checkpoint last night (27/8/13) Bob Rigg, former Senior Editor with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, warned that:
“Two or three months ago, five men were arrested in Iraq who belonged to Al Qaeda in Iraq, and they were found to have produced Sarin and Mustard Gas. And a little while later arrests were made on the border in Turkey and the individuals who were arrested were found to be in possession of Sarin.”
Rigg then drew attention to the statements of a former International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor:
“Carla Delponte, the former Chief Prosecutor of the ICC in the Hague, who was in one of the UN missions outside of Syria, went public about three months ago … and said that in her view it was ‘probable’, not certain, that the rebels had produced some Sarin. She broke ranks as a member of a UN team … and, in my view, the only possible explanation for that is she knew her team was politically divided, but she was convinced that it was seriously possible that the rebels were producing Sarin and she wanted to get that information out.”
If all this sounds familiar it’s because the sequence of events: the refusal to countenance contradictory evidence; the relentless progression towards the launching of an illegal military attack upon an Arab state; is almost identical to that which preceded the United States-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, purporting to make out the “moral case” for an illegal attack against Syria, declared earlier today (28/8/13): “This is not about wars in the Middle East, this is not even about Syria. It’s about the use of chemical weapons and making sure as a world we deter their use and deter the appalling scenes we have all seen on our TV screens.”
THE POSSIBILITY that approximately 350 human-beings (Médecins Sans Frontières estimate) may have succumbed to the excruciating consequences of absorbing Sarin nerve agent is – regardless of its source – undeniably horrific. Yet, Cameron’s reference to the “appalling scenes we have all seen on our TV screens” is curious.
The consequences of being struck in the stomach by a high velocity bullet are no less excruciating than absorbing Sarin. A woman or child torn apart by the explosion of a rocket propelled grenade is no less dead than those whom Sarin has poisoned.
Why, then, are the Western states preparing to unleash cruise missiles on Syria for its Government’s alleged use of chemical weapons, but remaining utterly silent about the tens-of-thousands of Syrian civilians killed by the bullets and RPGs of the Syrian Armed Resistance? Is it because these equally deadly munitions were supplied by the Western states’ allies, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States? Or, even worse, by themselves?
And these same Western states, who talk so self-righteously about being forced to operate without the blessing of the United Nation’s Security Council – because of Russia’s and China’s “obstruction”. Could they be the same states that threatened to unleash hell if any UN member dared assert its “responsibility to protect” the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza when they were under attack by Israeli forces using White Phosphorous?
The yawning chasm of hypocrisy that separates the Western imperialists’ words from their deeds is now grown so wide that the entire US sixth fleet, and its cruise missiles, could sail through it without touching the sides.
Another excellent post Chris.
Assad should have been knocked off as soon as the dirty bastard started shooting unarmed protesters two years ago, sending in the Tomahawks now is just bullshit. Two years ago the population might have achieved democracy but now all they’ll get is chaos.
And that the British had already promised to give it to the Palestinians.
A well researched and presented article outlining the historical actions that have lead to the events we are seeing today. The Western imperialism we are seeing here is permeating itself throughout all the mainstream media and shaping opinion regarding the actions that the US wants to take. If we can learn anything thing from recent history, these events are exact shadows that lead the to the war in Iraq. As a nation, New Zealand needs provide leadership on this matter by not backing or addressing any request made by the US. They are the bully in the playground, and we need to show our courage and stand up to them. We are part of an international community not a western imperialist one.
China and Russia are our trading partners. We have a trade agreement with China. It may be more mutually useful than the current biased offering from the US.
An interesting dilemma, perhaps.
Do we head north-east or north-west in the Pacific? US? Or ASEAN?
Old and fading allegiances? Or new alliances? Business as usual? Or time for the legendary cuppa and pause for reflection?
Saddam Hussein obtained his chemical weapons courtesy of the United States. Is it possible that Syria or the Syrian rebels did the same? Perhaps Syria was able to commandeer Saddam’s supply during the chaos that followed the American invasion when masses of munitions somehow “went missing”?
Your command of history reinforces all we learnt in this divide and rule situation playing out in in the Middle East with Syria the next country to join those countries UKUS have decided need a :”regime change.” Those “bastard tyrants, dictators” we put in charge were not honoring their assigned roles – “know thy place”, was not cutting it. The world was lied to over bin Laden, the Taliban being responsible for 911, we were lied to over the WMD’s in Iraq, a country who had nothing to do with 911, and oh the irony, suddenly Assad, first the father, and now the son are not “obeying orders,” and it is now the son who must be “moved” on. What does that say about the UKUS alliance and their quest for broad spectrum dominance and control of the world’s resources – how many tens of thousands, millions since this ‘game started’ of innocent men, women, children, are sacrificed – as long as the UKUS are in control? For, me the biggest shame – outside the millions suffering, dying in this madness, is a NZ Prime Minister jumping on the bandwaggon , kissing Uncle Sam’s arse, asking NZers to support the UKUS propaganda machine when the jury is out on who exactly is using chemical weapons. Not Assad, he who is winning the battle against the UKUS, trained, funded rebels, (many from the so called el Qaeda camp) and why would he support the UKUS to interfere in a battle being won by Assad’s government troops – minus the need to use chemical weapons ?
Insanity, psychopathy, manipulation, propaganda……….stop the world I want “out-of-here” comes to mind.
Great article. Enjoyed the historical references.
The source of the chemical weapons and the perpetrator of its use should be first verified/proved without any ambiguity or doubts.
It is a little doubtful that the Syrian regime would use them when the UN inspectors were actually present in Syria.
The dirty fog of war and now the western war mongering fools are rushing in where angels fear to tread. Any action should be Oked by the UN. If not, what use is there to have such an organisation that gets ignored and over ruled by the west?
I hope New Zealand won’t blindly follow what US dictates.
Excellently written piece. If only our newspapers published such well argued pieces like this, and not the force-fed AP garbage we get in the herald every day.
I am very, very disturbed about the developments in and around Syria. I have from the beginning been critical of the Syrian regime under Assad, which is nothing but a dictatorship. I know that his father used nerve gas to kill thousands, to suppress some revolt or unrest.
I know that Syria has been run by a rather corrupt regime, for too long, and that there was a deserved need to challenge the regime, to bring in true democracy, which the Arab Spring movement appeared to encourage and nearly also bring about in Syria.
Sadly many things have gone wrong. The opposition to the regime, desiring more freedom and better democratic representation, they have never been united. Indeed Syria is a very diverse society, by ethnic and religious and social groups. It was held together, as an artificial unit after colonial borders drawn without much consideration were taken over after independence. That diversity has always been forced to live together, under one system, a kind of Baath Party system, I believe.
Yet with generational passing on of rule, it all corrupted, and it is not defendable any longer. Assad had to go, but the only solution would have been to bring in consultation and do it the peaceful way. Some in the opposition did not trust it, were not patient, and wanted it all their ways. They were also joined by radical muslim groups, even Al Qaeda friendly extremists and terrorists.
So what do we have now, a civil war, between many fractions, with no solid unitary opposition, and a corrupt regime on its last legs.
Re the gas attacks there is sadly insufficient evidence it was the regime that did it. Even if parts of the regime did it, Assad may well not have anything to do with it. In civil war, instability and so, you have deteriorating systems and groups take control that may work under the government, but have own agendas. So I do not rule out that some groups that are allied with or aligned with Assad did something like gassing people, without Assad’s and his governments knowledge. There are ruthless operators that worked for Assad, and there is a Christian minority, that was privileged and has all to lose.
So the US has also followed an agenda for a few years now, criticising and undermining Syria, intentionally, they want to weaker the regime and the Iranian allied influence, they want to get another regime in place.
What Obama and his government have ended up is is a catch 22, they have to act, due to all rhetoric and hype created, and thus will act. That though will benefit the radical islamists and extremists, who may also have been responsible for the gas attacks. They have a strong interest in air strikes and the Syrian air force and so be taken out.
I see nothing to end up in anything better, we will have an escalation, a more intense civil war, and a radical islamist group finally terrorise and take over control in Syria, leaving the west and all others with yet another problem. But before that happens, expect and escalation in the Gulf, with Iran supporting ans stirring up Shiite minorities in Saudi Arabia and so, and also in Lebanon, the powder keg middle east is about to explode into a very much wider conflict, to last for years, and also posing a major threat for the whole global economy.
Good luck Obama!?
“In 1916, at the height of the First World War, Britain and France cynically divvied up the former territories of the Ottoman Empire between them. Under the infamous Sykes-Picot agreement, France got Syria and Lebanon, and the UK got Palestine, Trans-Jordan and Iraq. A year later, on 2 November 1917, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, promised the Jewish people a homeland in Palestine – blithely ignoring the fact that the territory was already populated, overwhelmingly, by Arab Muslims. A little later, in 1943, Uncle Sam’s boots hit the Middle East. It was under President Franklin Roosevelt that the House of Saud was guaranteed US protection in return for access to what the New Zealand oil prospector, Frank Holmes, assured his American clients was a veritable ocean of oil lying untapped beneath the Arabian desert.”
This is a magnificent commentary or post, Chris. Yes, thank you for explaining the historic background to all the mess we have, and showing the bloody hypocrisy of UK, France and the US, all having vested interests in the reason.
As much a bastard Hitler was, he realised exactly what the allied were up to, and what they were so desperate to hang onto, hence the desert fox and the war in North Africa.
We sadly have the same former colonial powers try to moralise and interfere, but they definitely are not doing it for proclaimed humanitarian reasons and for democracy. Democracy would put islamists in power, and they showed in Egypt, how they betrayed the Arab Revolution, one way or another. That is “America”, the biggest pimp in history, and its little European allies.
History is in the making, sadly at the cost of innocent civilian lives.
Have you ever taken skin of a knuckle ? While gardening , doing a little home maintenance etc ( I hate the acronym DIY for some inexplicable reason ) ?
Have you ever noticed that the wound is always most painful just before it heals ?
The world seems to be plagued by Libertine psychopaths Hell bent on mayhem and destruction . Perhaps it’s ‘because it appears that way’ . Because we can know it’s happening as the bullets fly , not because it’s anything new .
What is ‘ new ‘ of course is our practical ability to be able to kill millions of our brothers and sisters , rather than the old fashioned few hundreds or thousands . Perhaps that’s why there are now so many of us ? As we evolve and become enlightened , and in equal measure more dangerous , there has to be sacrifice . A human-life price to pay for that excruciatingly slow process .
We , those if us who have the luxury of being able to be idle for long enough to examine this conundrum can draw attention to [it] , have those observations beamed to millions in a heart beat and then have those observations dissected and discussed in intimate detail and all that processing will augment change and change for the better I might add .
The vast majority of us see what is happening in Syria as abhorrent on many levels and as Chris Trotter points out in his Post is also steeped in hypocrisy therefore it’s safe to assume that the majority will ultimately rule .
What people of relatively affluent western cultures need to be taught is how to be aware of being head-fucked . Of being lured into the awful games the libertine psychopath plays with us all . David Cameron did indeed say … ” appalling scenes we have all seen on our TV screens.”
Yes . Yes we did David . I saw little kids . Dead little kids in a pit with their dead mums and dads . So thank you for that reference David .
David Cameron just used the mightiest weapon of all . The television . To install in our minds the specter of an inevitability ? The inevitability of war ? The reasons are irrelevant .
The sight of a dead few kids is enough to make good people turn into beasts themselves . That’s why the media shows them off ? To insight blood lust and revenge ? And to turn over a nice profit ?
To fully embrace the insanity of greed . To see functioning libertine psychopaths in full cry , go here then watch the horribly wonderful documentary .
From gassed dead babies in a pit to Walmart and beyond .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen_of_Versailles
Fantastic Post Chris Trotter . Thanks for taking the time to enlighten .
Actually, we’ve been doing that for quite some time. In fact, despite the fact that we can kill a hell of a lot faster, modern wars are pretty benign compared to what they used to be.
The US military used chemical weapons ( white phosphorous) on the innocent people of Fallujah, did they not? Depleted uranium weapons have also left a horrific medical and genetic legacy. Did they get outraged at their own cruel behaviour?
Not exactly. White phosphorous is sanctioned to destroy equipment and structures, unlike nerve gas, which can only be used as an anti-personnel weapon. Non-persistent nerve agents such as enhanced sarin gas (that the Syrian army is reported to have used) are hard to contain and must never be employed in areas where there are large numbers of noncombatants.
The Marine battalion that used white phosphorous against insurgent defensive positions (buildings) in Fallujah exhibited very poor judgment. Earlier this month, the Pentagon admitted to the use of these weapons; I would expect that the Iraqis will be compensated. It is small consolation to the civilians and children who have died or been damaged by this. The number of casualties from Syria’s use of nerve gas are estimated at 1300. The total number of casualties from the Fallujah assault was estimated at 400.
Equivocating the incidents reveals the irrational hatred that so many ignorant kiwis have for all things American. I would invite you to get off your keyboard and go to Syria if you have a better answer. Apparently, none of your leaders seem to have any better ideas.
Well said Chris, but the greater tragedy is that mankind does not learn and is fundamentally incompetent at creating a peaceful world.
Rt reported back in Feb/March of rebels acquiring chemicals and the preliminary reports indicate the gas in this case was home made and if not used by rebels, it smells of CIA and the US tradition of lying to justify military action to support its arms industry that it relies on to keep its economy going.
Well according to the News The British Labour Party has told the PM they will NOT support any military action without more evidence. The UN has said it needs another 4 days, but the Americans are champing at the bit (as usual (Why do they have some new weapons to test?)) So lets see where it goes to from now.
Good stuff Chris, gives us all a more holistic picture than the ‘media’ ever give us. We shouldn’t be surprised that the U.S. in particular is at it yet again, controlling or attempting to control yet another country.
The incomplete list below from Zoltan Grossman’s website of U.S. Military interventions says it all really. Included in here are military interventions within the U.S. which include strike breaking and land grabs against the indigenous peoples of the U.S.
I note on Zoltan’s website also that a Turkish newspaper has urged that the United States be listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the Country with the Most Foreign Interventions.
SOUTH DAKOTA 1890 (-?)
ARGENTINA 1890
CHILE 1891
HAITI 1891
IDAHO 1892
HAWAII 1893 (-?)
CHICAGO 1894
NICARAGUA 1894
CHINA 1894-95
KOREA 1894-96
PANAMA 1895
NICARAGUA 1896
CHINA 1898-1900
PHILIPPINES 1898-1910 (-?)
CUBA 1898-1902 (-?)
PUERTO RICO 1898 (-?)
GUAM 1898 (-?)
MINNESOTA 1898 (-?)
NICARAGUA 1898
SAMOA 1899 (-?)
NICARAGUA 1899
IDAHO 1899-1901
OKLAHOMA 1901
PANAMA 1901-14
HONDURAS 1903
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1903-04
KOREA 1904-05
CUBA 1906-09
NICARAGUA 1907
HONDURAS 1907
PANAMA 1908
NICARAGUA 1910
HONDURAS 1911
CHINA 1911-41
CUBA 1912
PANAMA 1912
HONDURAS 1912
NICARAGUA 1912-33
MEXICO 1913
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1914
COLORADO 1914
MEXICO 1914-18
HAITI 1914-34
TEXAS 1915
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1916-24
CUBA 1917-33
WORLD WAR I 1917-18
RUSSIA 1918-22
PANAMA 1918-20
HONDURAS 1919
YUGOSLAVIA 1919
GUATEMALA 1920
WEST VIRGINIA 1920-21
TURKEY 1922
CHINA 1922-27
MEXICO 1923
HONDURAS 1924-25
PANAMA 1925
CHINA 1927-34
EL SALVADOR 1932
WASHINGTON DC 1932
WORLD WAR II 1941-45
DETROIT 1943
IRAN 1946
YUGOSLAVIA 1946
URUGUAY 1947
GREECE 1947-49
GERMANY 1948
CHINA 1948-49
PHILIPPINES 1948-54
PUERTO RICO 1950
KOREA 1951-53 (-?)
IRAN 1953
VIETNAM 1954
GUATEMALA 1954
EGYPT 1956
LEBANON l958
IRAQ 1958
CHINA l958
PANAMA 1958
VIETNAM l960-75
CUBA l961
GERMANY l961
LAOS 1962
CUBA l962
IRAQ 1963
PANAMA l964
INDONESIA l965
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1965-66
GUATEMALA l966-67
DETROIT l967
UNITED STATES l968
CAMBODIA l969-75
OMAN l970
LAOS l971-73
SOUTH DAKOTA l973
MIDEAST 1973
CHILE 1973
CAMBODIA l975
ANGOLA l976-92
IRAN l980
LIBYA l981
EL SALVADOR l981-92
NICARAGUA l981-90
LEBANON l982-84
GRENADA l983-84
HONDURAS l983-89
IRAN l984
LIBYA l986
BOLIVIA 1986
IRAN l987-88
LIBYA 1989
VIRGIN ISLANDS 1989
PHILIPPINES 1989
PANAMA 1989 (-?)
LIBERIA 1990
SAUDI ARABIA 1990-91
IRAQ 1990-91
KUWAIT 1991
IRAQ 1991-2003
LOS ANGELES 1992
SOMALIA 1992-94
YUGOSLAVIA 1992-94
BOSNIA 1993-?
HAITI 1994
ZAIRE (CONGO) 1996-97
LIBERIA 1997
ALBANIA 1997
SUDAN 1998
AFGHANISTAN 1998
IRAQ 1998
YUGOSLAVIA 1999
YEMEN 2000
MACEDONIA 2001
UNITED STATES 2001
AFGHANISTAN 2001-?
YEMEN 2002
PHILIPPINES 2002-?
COLOMBIA 2003-?
IRAQ 2003-?
LIBERIA 2003
HAITI 2004-05
PAKISTAN 2005-?
SOMALIA 2006-?
SYRIA 2008
YEMEN 2009-?
LIBYA 2011-?
And that’s only from 1890 – the US was well on its way to becoming an empire via military force before then.
Ignorant post. In how many of those engagements was the US part of a multinational force? How many of these “interventions” was the US invited, if not begged, to intervene? I recall many articles in European papers and magazines in the 90s during the Yugoslav civil war with the title “When are the Americans going to save us?”
Of course, the Pakeha invaded New Zealand and stole the country from the Maori, and have been intervening in Fiji for some time now….
Ignorant no, just the facts. I expect for most of us it would depend on ‘who’ was asking the U.S. to intervene. Some corrupt government that the US assisted to get into power. The U.S. should back off get out and stop thinking it has the answers, because the answers inevitably from them are more violence, more killing of innocent people.
I have never supported the invasion of Aotearoa and the subjugation of the indigenous peoples of this country nor the confiscation of their lands by the British. I support tino rangatiratanga, and have marched in hikoi.
Working as peace brokers – as they did for the people of Bougainville is what our country needs to do for Fiji and other nations.
I’m pretty certain the UK would top that list. Not to mention France, Spain, Russia and Turkey/Ottoman empire.
Produce the list Gosman! I have never supported colonial conquerors, but haven’t we learnt from that invasion and carving up the land belonging to the indigenous peoples. You know Columbus ‘discovered’ America, really do we still believe this.
Thank you for that horrifying list Michal. Awhile ago when I was reflecting on the hypocrisy of the States for jailing Bradley/Chelsea Manning I recalled a John Pilger doco that I once watched. During the show there was a long list of countries that the States had invaded or occupied and I was wondering where I would be able to find that list of shame again, so thanks, I think….
As an aside the topic of the States colonial and ongoing oppression of their own indigenous people and their stolen lands is also depressing. The doco “Inventing the Indian” by Rich Hall looks at some of that history, with a focus on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It also covers the invention of the Hollywood stereotype of the “Indian” Worth a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMDy-1mXw4o
And Thank You Chris for the article. It’s already been said but I also appreciate the historical context
And what If evidence is produced that Assad knew of/ordered the attacks? (CNN is reporting that the Israelis have passed on Syrian intercepts to the U.S)
Will your position still be that those evil old imperialists not get involved..even if surgical stikes could prevent the further use of Chemical weapons? Thanks for the history lesson by the way…always stikes me as borderline racist to blame imperialism for all Arab ills, as if they have no moral autonomy at all.
The only thing surgical about surgical strikes is the lobotomy needed for any reasonable person to believe they are surgical. My surgeon uses a scalpel, not a cruise missile.
Seemed to work reasonably well in Libya.
Yes but I believe that societies should sort themselves out and not have ignorant external forces come in and sort them out by forcing them to have the same society as the invader.
An excellent summary!
Even if the imminent attack of the US on Syria was somehow justified, it is nonetheless, TREASONOUS under US law.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2381
The issue here is that the US is supposed to be AT WAR with Al Qaida. By attacking Assad they are irrefutably HELPING Al Qaida, who are a declared enemy of the US.
Personally I’m almost certain that the Assad regime is not involved in this chemical attack for 3 reasons:
1. Obama (and the West) have made it abundantly clear that chemical attacks are a “line that cannot be crossed”. Why would Assad choose to cross it then? Does Assad have a death wish? There is no strategy where chemical weapons make sense, given the promises made by The West that they will not be toleerated.
2. Why has this attack been carried out so half-arsed? If you’re going to try and turn the tide with chemical weapons (in desperation presumably), why not go “all in”?
3. These attacks were launched from ground based weapons. This makes no sense, since chemical weapons are much more effective when launched from the air. Further, ground-based forces have a chance of being captured, in which case the opposition would then have the weapons… that is not something you would want to risk the opposition getting their hands on since they could then use it on YOU.
[…] A Yawning Gulf Of Hypocrisy: The Imperial West Prepares to Attack Syria By Chris Trotter – See more at: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/08/28/a-yawning-gulf-of-hypocrisy-the-imperial-west-prepares-to-attac… […]
And now they say the UK shipped chemical weapons to Syria…what a joke; the chemical weapons, sodium fluoride is added to our cities water supply. So does that mean cities like Auckland are terrorists?
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