Syria Media Bias
FOREVER WARS
After 10 Years of Civil War in Syria, US (Quietly) Declares Defeat but Won't
Go Home
After a decade of bombing, invasions, exoduses and economic strife, it is
clear that there are precious few winners in the Syrian Civil War - or from
the rest of the Arab Spring, for that matter.
by Alan Macleod
March 25th, 2021
By Alan Macleod
DAMASCUS, SYRIA - This March marks the 10-year anniversary of the Arab
Spring and the protests that rocked Syria, which were a starting point for
the ongoing civil war. That conflict has led to over half a million deaths
and nearly 13 million people displaced, according to some estimates.
Now, after 10 years of attempts to topple the government of President Bashar
al-Assad, it appears that many in the U.S. government and media are quietly
conceding defeat.
"We tell Syria's human stories so that the 'victors' don't write its
history," ran the headline of a CNN article marking the anniversary. Who the
victors are is not spelled out explicitly, although it is clear that the
reference is to the Syrian government. In explaining the reasons for the
violence, the article tells us:
The Assad regime gunned down those who called for a peaceful transition to
democracy. Gulf countries sent in suitcases of cash with a wink and a nod
towards more religiously conservative fighting units. Assad let former
al-Qaeda members and other criminals out of jail. The U.S., at the peak of
its involvement, half-heartedly trained some 'moderate' rebels, many of whom
went on to join the ranks of extremist groups.
CNN Syria Media Bias
Thus, Assad is presented as an ally of al-Qaeda, while forces the U.S. and
its allies "half-heartedly" supplied and trained register merely as
"religiously conservative fighting units" and "moderate rebels," inverting
reality on its head.
The New York Times was less cryptic in its description of the outcome of the
conflict, its headline reading "Having Won Syria's War, al-Assad Is Mired in
Economic Woes." While accepting military defeat in Syria, the U.S. appears
to be using its economic power to make sure there can be no clear victory
for Assad, enacting waves of sanctions that have crushed the country's
economy, leading to power outages, food shortages, inflation and falling
wages.
In its article covering a potential change in Syria policy by the Biden
administration, the Minneapolis Star Tribune quoted one former Obama
official who said the international take-home message is that "the Syria war
is over, Assad has won, Assad will be in power as long as he is breathing
oxygen."
Those in the current administration are more tacit in their acceptance of
the situation on the ground. A joint statement from Secretary of State
Antony Blinken and his European counterparts last week asked for a
nationwide ceasefire, promising that they were not "abandoning" the conflict
or Syria's people, whatever it might look like. The statement also condemned
the fast-approaching presidential elections as neither free nor fair,
historically a very good indicator that they expect the result to go against
their interests. "It's clear that the regime will leverage the upcoming
presidential elections in May to unfairly claim Assad's legitimacy," said
the United States' acting deputy ambassador to the UN, Jeffrey DeLaurentis,
last week. "The United States will not recognize these elections unless they
are free, fair, representative of Syrian society, and supervised by the
United Nations," he added.
The prospect of holding a proper election in a country destroyed by ten
years of constant war is indeed very dim. With food prices rising, millions
displaced, and millions more having fled abroad, just surviving is a task
enough for many. Last month the World Food Program warned that a record 12.4
million Syrians - more than half of the population - are currently food
insecure. This is an increase of around 4.5 million from last year. Over the
past 12 months, the price of basic foodstuffs has increased by an average of
236%. Some of this is down to U.S. sanctions, with Washington apparently
deciding that - as in Venezuela, Cuba and other nations - if the U.S. cannot
overthrow the government, it will fall back on starving the country as a
punishment.
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Appeal to UN to Intervene
The governments of eight countries suffering under US sanctions amid the
coronavirus outbreak have appealed to the UN and WHO to intervene,
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Mar 27, 2020
Ten years of violence
While the conflict is universally described as a civil war, from the outset
it has been dominated by foreign groups. March 15, 2011 saw the Arab Spring
spread to Syria, with large demonstrations against Assad's rule in many
major cities. However, this unrest was quickly overtaken by armed groups
whose goal was to take the country by force. In July of that year, the Free
Syrian Army was established, quickly receiving considerable Western backing.
Almost immediately, the country of 21 million people became a proxy war for
various regional and world powers, including Turkey, the United States and
its European allies, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. At one point, the CIA
was spending almost $1 billion per year training and fielding an army of
jihadists. Fighters came from as far afield as Libya and Xinjiang province
in China to join their ranks.
A U.S.-backed anti-government fighter mans a heavy automatic machine gun,
left, next to an American soldier as they take their positions at Tanf, a
border crossing between Syria and Iraq (Hammurabi's Justice News/AP)
A US-backed anti-government fighter mans a heavy machine gun next to a US
soldier in al Tanf. Hammurabi's Justice News | AP
The bitter fighting and terrible violence on all sides led to a refugee
crisis for a country that had historically been a haven for victims of war
in the region. The famously secular nation also became a stronghold for the
Islamic State. With the help of Russian forces, ISIS was beaten back, but to
this day, a number of foreign powers continue to occupy the country
militarily. One of them is the United States, which last month launched a
strike on a town on the Syria/Iraq border, dropping 1.75 tons of explosives
and reportedly killing 22 people. Between 2014 and 2019, the U.S. and its
allies dropped at least 118,000 bombs and missiles on Iraq and Syria. The
U.S. also continues to militarily occupy Syria's oil fields, hamstringing
the nation's efforts to recover economically.
A short spring, a long winter
Unfortunately, Syria is far from the only country that has been left in a
much worse state than what it was in ten years ago. In 2011, the Arab Spring
sparked hope across the Middle East, capturing the world's attention for
months as, one after another, movements arose challenging the power of
undemocratic governments. Yet few, if any, can be said to have succeeded.
Egypt was the centerpiece of the uprising, as hundreds of thousands of
people poured into Tahrir Square in Cairo. Dictator Hosni Mubarak was forced
to resign and Mohamed Morsi was elected president in a democratic election.
Yet barely a year later many were in the streets again, begging the military
to overthrow him. The resulting coup brought General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to
power, establishing a dictatorship every bit as brutal as Mubarak's. Sisi
has signalled his intent to remain in power until at least 2034, which,
considering his age, is effectively a lifetime appointment.
In Libya, protests against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's rule were used as a
pretext by NATO for regime change, sparking a bitter civil war, Gaddafi's
assasination, and the rise of Al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces that turned
the once-rich country into a failed state, replete with slave markets.
Meanwhile, Yemen is now commonly described as the "world's worst
humanitarian crisis," where 24 million people need assistance, including 20
million with little or no access to clean water. Yesterday, Oxfam warned
that the country is reaching a tipping point, amid a massive spike in
COVID-19 cases and a feared outbreak of cholera. The cause for the crisis is
clear: the Saudi-led onslaught against the country, which, in turn, has its
roots in the constitutional crisis sparked by the Arab Spring protests.
Few remember that the Arab Spring actually started in Western Sahara. But
over the past 10 years, the country is being progressively eroded, as
Morocco continues to occupy it militarily, building a succession of walls
and annexing its most valuable land. As a result, the fortunes of the
Sahrawi people are as bad as ever.
The Empire's Hidden Hand: How The US Established, Sustains and Benefits From
Morocco's Occupation of Western Sahara
Behind The Headline's Dan Cohen explores the U.S.-Morocco relationship and
the Sahrawi struggle for independence in the new Cold War.
MintPress News | Dan Cohen | Feb 24
After a decade of bombing, invasions, exoduses and economic strife, it is
clear that there are precious few winners in the Syrian Civil War - or from
the rest of the Arab Spring, for that matter. There are, however, millions
of losers. Chief among them are the people of Syria, who have seen their
country torn apart as foreign powers, great and minor, wrestle for control
of their nation. While the U.S. and its media might be tacitly conceding
defeat, few are proclaiming victory.
