https://socialistaction.org/2016/11/16/u-s-imperialist-war-in-syria-acid-test-for-antiwar-movement/
U.S. imperialist war in Syria: Acid test for antiwar movement
/ 3 days ago
nov-2016-aleppo-aug-ameer-alhalbi-afpgettyBy JEFF MACKLER
A Sept. 6 New York Times article reporting on President Obama’s press
conference at the end of the Group of 20 conference in China caught my
eye. Noting Obama’s planned visit to Laos, The Times commented: “The
United States and Laos have a difficult relationship that dates to the
C.I.A.’s undeclared war in the 1960s and ’70s, when American warplanes
dropped 270 million bombs on this country, many of which are still
buried in fields and forests.”
Two hundred-seventy million bombs in an undeclared CIA war on a country
with only seven million people! President Obama went to Laos to, among
other things, apologize. Former president Bill Clinton similarly
apologized to Guatemala during his presidency for the CIA’s secret war
supporting that nation’s dictatorship, which slaughtered 400,000
indigenous Guatemalans. There have been no apologies for the 10-year
U.S. mass slaughter in Vietnam that murdered four million Vietnamese,
mostly civilians and with poison gas, napalm and saturation bombing.
There have been no apologies for the secret U.S.-orchestrated coup that
overthrew the elected Iranian government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953
and installed the Shah Reza Pahlavi monarchy. No apologies when the
U.S.-financed the Saddam Hussein government’s 10-year war, 1980-88,
against Iran when the Iranian masses overthrew that monarchy in 1979.
One million Iranians died in that U.S.-abetted war.
Need we recount further the history of U.S. imperialism’s wars of
annihilation, conquest, “regime change,” covert and overt? Was there one
where the U.S. government stood on the side of humanity? One?
“In Somalia, U.S. Escalates a Shadow War,” was the title of an Oct. 16,
2016, New York Times article that read: “The Somalia campaign [where
U.S. Special Forces bomb “terrorists” with impunity to protect alleged
U.S. ‘national interests—J.M.] is a blueprint for warfare that President
Obama has embraced and will pass along to his successor. It is a model
the United States now employs across the Middle East and North
Africa—from Syria to Libya—despite the president’s stated aversion to
American ‘boots on the ground’ in the world’s war zones. This year
alone, the United States has carried out airstrikes in seven countries
and conducted Special Operations missions in many more” (emphasis added).
But maybe Syria today is the exception to this “model.” Could it be that
the combined forces of U.S. imperialism, NATO, Turkey, Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, and the rest of the Gulf State monarchies, are on the side of
truth and justice in Syria? Are they there, as they claim, to protect
the defenseless people of Aleppo from indiscriminate civilian bombing by
the Bashar Assad government and Russia? This is the view of the
corporate media that daily blares headlines that Assad and Russia are
guilty of war crimes, of violations of international law, of starving
civilian populations, of bombing courageous rebel fighters and civilians
in a civil war with American truth and justice on one side and a
Russian-Iranian-Hezbollah cabal of mass murderers on the other.
Tragically, it is also the view of a small section of so-called antiwar
activists and socialist organizations who, to date, have failed to mount
a single action against the U.S. war on Syria, a war that in all its
fundamentals is indistinguishable from the U.S. wars in Iraq, Libya,
Afghanistan, Yemen, and all the others.
But as with any new war, and they seem endless in the lexicon of U.S.
atrocities, facts are invaluable in establishing what is actually taking
place in Syria today. Curiously, my sources are from the chief
propaganda voice and supposedly “internationally respected” New York
Times. Much of the material, usually buried deep in the general pro-U.S.
imperialist Times narrative, deals with the “negotiations” between the
U.S. and Russia regarding the “rebel” evacuation of the northern city of
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and commercial center until it was overrun
by ISIS and the Al Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front. The latter is the
U.S.-designated terrorist group whose forces, as we shall demonstrate,
with the help of the New York Times, are inextricably linked to the
U.S.-armed and financed “rebels.”
•“The rebels involved in the operation [in northern Syria] appeared to
be mainly from the groups fighting to unseat Mr. Assad that the United
States, Turkey and other allies support through a covert operations
center in Turkey…” The Aug. 24 Times article continues: “Turkish
officials were adamant that they would continue operations in Syria
until they had neutralized what they see as threats against national
security.”
Months earlier, The Times reported Pentagon figures that the flow of
foreign [ISIS] fighters into Syria via Turkish-abetted corridors had
been 2000 monthly. Turkey, in collaboration with the U.S., then sought
the removal of the Syrian government of Bashar Assad.
•‘“The fighters attacking the [Syrian] regime from inside and outside
Aleppo fought fiercely, knowing that this battle was a fateful one and
would lift the siege on their families and children,’ said Zakaria
Malahifji, the political chief of a rebel group backed by the C.I.A. and
its counterparts in European and Arab states” (New York Times, Aug. 12,
2016, emphasis added).
•“But spearheading the rebel effort were hard-line Islamist groups
including the Levant Conquest Front, which has been affiliated with Al
Qaeda for years and only recently changed its name and claimed to have
become independent. While American officials dismissed the rebranding,
saying the group did not change its ideology or its goal of establishing
an Islamic emirate in Syria, analysts said it allowed the jihadists to
work more closely with other rebel groups, blurring the lines between
them (New York Times, Aug. 25, 2016, emphasis added).
•“The jihadists’ prominent role in the Aleppo offensive showed that they
remain militarily indispensable to the wider rebel movement and
increased their popularity at time when many Syrians [unnamed] criticize
the United States for not doing more to protect Syrian civilians” (New
York Times, Aug. 25, 2016).
•“The Nusra Front has been one of the most effective anti-Assad forces,
and because of that United States-backed rebel groups often coordinate
their activities with its units. Russia has argued that means that
Washington is effectively supporting Nusra, and that the American-backed
groups are legitimate targets. So a joint campaign against Nusra would
not only appear to concede Russia’s point, but could also bring American
firepower to bear against the strongest anti-Assad military force and a
sometime partner of Washington’s allies” (New York Times, July 14, 2016,
emphasis added).
•“Up to now, the United States has carried out occasional strikes
against what have been described as senior Qaeda figures in Syria. But
it has refrained from systematic attacks against the Nusra Front, whose
ranks are heavily Syrian, including many who left less extreme rebel
groups because Nusra was better armed and financed” (New York Times,
July 14, 2016).
•“Faysal Itani, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, was also
critical of the proposed military coordination with the Russians. He
said that combined attacks against Nusra would effectively end the
Syrian opposition, cementing Mr. Assad’s grip on power and enraging most
Syrians” (New York Times, July 14, 2016, emphasis added).
•“The Syrian government and its allies have often referred to all rebel
fighters as belonging to the Nusra Front, while opposition fighters have
said that they will not renounce tactical alliances with the
Qaeda-linked group without new arms [from the U.S., Turkey and the Gulf
State monarchies] or guarantees” (New York Times, Oct. 18, 2016).
•“The new offensive [in Aleppo] was a strong sign that rebel groups
vetted by the United States were continuing their tactical alliances
with groups linked to Al Qaeda, rather than distancing themselves as
Russia has demanded and the Americans have urged. … The rebels argue
that they cannot afford to shun any potential allies while they are
under fire, including well-armed and motivated jihadists, without more
robust aid from their international backers. … Those taking part in the
offensive include the Levant Conquest Front, a militant group formerly
known as the Nusra Front that grew out of Al Qaeda; another hard-line
Islamist faction, Ahrar al-Sham; and other rebel factions fighting Mr.
Assad that have been vetted by the United States and its allies”
(“Syrian Rebels Launch Offensive to Break Siege of Aleppo,” by Hwaida
Saad and Anne Barnard, New York Times, Oct. 28, 2016, emphasis added).
•The same article reports, “Eleven of the roughly 20 rebel groups
conducting the offensive have been vetted by the C.I.A. and have
received arms from the agency, including anti-tank missiles, said
Charles Lister, a senior fellow and Syria specialist at the Middle East
Institute in Washington.”
The article continues: “A spokesman for the C.I.A. declined to comment
on any armed assistance to the rebels, which, although it has been well
publicized, is also still technically a covert program” (emphasis
added). … “Mr. Lister and other analysts said the vast majority of the
American-vetted rebel factions in Aleppo were fighting inside the city
itself and conducting significant bombardments against Syrian government
troops in support of the Qaeda-affiliated fighters carrying out the
brunt of front-line fighting.”
And further: “’The unfortunate truth, however, is that these U.S.-backed
groups remain somewhat dependent upon the Al Qaeda linked groups for
organization and firepower in these operations,’ said Genevieve
Casagrande, a Syria research analyst at the Institute for the Study of
War in Washington. In addition to arms provided by the United States,
much of the rebels’ weaponry comes from regional states, like Turkey,
Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Mr. Lister said, including truck-borne
multiple-rocket launcher systems and Czech-made Grad rockets with
extended ranges.”
Need we say more? Few, if any, informed sources doubt that the U.S.
government is central to the organization, arming, financing, directing,
and perpetuating the war in Syria to remove the Syrian government. It
has been so since early 2012—that is, shortly after the entirely
justified mass demonstrations against the Assad dictatorship’s
imposition of neo-liberal “reforms” that cut deep into the well-being of
Syrian farmers and outraged democratically-minded forces. Tragically, in
short order, and especially with the Assad government’s firing on and
arresting en masse peaceful demonstrators, the extremely limited and
virtually leaderless mobilizations devolved into a U.S.-abetted “regime
change” war, almost immediately involving massive ISIS and Al Qaida forces.
In a matter of a year, the latter well-armed and financed groups had
literally occupied and conquered close to two-thirds of Syria while
imposing reactionary jihadist-fundamentalist military rule virtually
everywhere. Indeed, in October 2015, the Al-Qaida forces came close to
conquering the entire Syrian nation—with militarized strongholds deeply
established in the outskirts of the capital city, Damascus. It was only
in recent months that in Daraya, for example, from which “rebels” daily
launched artillery bombardments on downtown Damacus, negotiated
agreements allowed for the “rebels” to evacuate unharmed. The same with
another major Syrian city, Homs. Clearly, the Syrian
government-requested Russian intervention had turned the tide.
But today, despite negotiated ceasefire agreements to similarly allow
for the evacuation, through free passage corridors of Eastern Aleppo, of
“rebels” and civilians alike, Al Qaida forces aimed at continuing the
fighting and pressing for more U.S. weapons, have literally resorted to
shooting residents who attempt to leave. During one of the several
negotiated ceasefire periods, U.S. warplanes, “accidently,” so U.S.
officials claim, bombed Syrian Army soldiers, killing civilians as well.
Syria’s right to self-determination
The intervention of Russia, as well as others invited by the Syrian
government to intervene on its behalf (Iran and the Lebanon-based
Hezbollah) have been central to the present and often heated polemics
issuing from currents on the U.S. left who reject any characterization
of the war as a U.S. imperialist onslaught. Instead, these currents
stand firmly opposed to united front mass action mobilizations that
demand “U.S. Out Now!” and “Self-determination for Syria!” What is
transpiring in Syria, they insist, is a civil war between the Syrian
dictatorship on the one hand, and a fully justified popular rebellion on
the other.
Others in this camp often argue that Syria today is the scene of a
“proxy war” between U.S. imperialism and “Russian imperialism.” In
accord with this view, the U.S. antiwar movement must condemn “both
sides” equally and demand that both leave Syria. Further, they insist
that “Down with Assad” must be a central antiwar movement demand.
Revolutionary socialists, on the other hand, stand in unqualified
opposition to these views. In accord with our unconditional support to
the historic right of oppressed nations to self-determination, we demand
“U.S. Out Now!” This unconditional right to self-determination, from the
time of and in the revolutionary tradition of the Russian Revolution led
by Lenin and Trotsky to today, extends to all poor and oppressed
nations, including those led by dictators, like Bashar Assad, or to Iraq
when the U.S. invaded that nation, then under the dictatorship of Saddam
Hussein. It applies to the U.S. and to all imperialist interventions in
Africa and Latin America today, whether or not any of these poor and
formerly colonized nations are led by “democrats” or “dictators.” The
job of dealing with tyrants, in our view, resides only with the
oppressed people of the world and never with imperialist oppressors and
interveners.
Whatever “rebel” forces exist in Syria today, and shortly after the
earliest stages of the mass anti-Assad protests that began in late 2011
are armed, financed, and organized by U.S. imperialism, NATO, Turkey,
and their reactionary Gulf State surrogates, including ISIS and the Al
Qaida-affiliated Nursa Front.
Following the “successful” U.S. slaughter and “regime change” in Libya,
where the U.S./NATO “humanitarian war” destroyed the infrastructure of
that country and killed thousands, U.S. imperialism set its sights on
replacing the Assad government with one of its choosing. As with Libya,
the U.S. proved to have no significant “democratically minded” allies in
this venture. In addition to its own Special Operation killers, and
covertly trained forces, in conjunction with its “coalition” allies
(NATO, Turkey and the Gulf State monarchies), it provided massive aid to
the “rebels” we have described in detail above. As a direct result,
until the October 2015 Russian intervention, the above forces were on
the verge of conquering all of Syria.
In our view, the right to self-determination necessarily includes the
right of oppressed nations to request intervention from other nations—in
the case of Syria, the intervention of Russia, Iran, and the
Lebanon-based Hezbollah. This intervention, despite the intentions of
capitalist Russia to use their new influence to seek a “negotiated”
settlement, perhaps at the expense of Syria’s sovereignty, has had the
effect of thwarting U.S. imperialism’s overt conquest of Syria. It has
forced the retreat of ISIS, the Nusra Front, and the U.S.-backed
“rebels,” all of which ceaselessly demand U.S. imperialist arms and
intervention.
There is no doubt that Russian capitalism today has its own objectives
in Syria, almost all of which center on a negotiated deal wherein the
U.S. and the European Union will lessen the daily-increasing imperialist
encirclement of Russia and ease up on the economic sanctions imposed on
Russia following its opposition to the U.S.-backed fascist-led coup in
Ukraine. While the Putin capitalist government is more than capable of
negotiating away Syria’s right to self-determination, today its actions
in Syria have had the effect of preventing a direct and immediate U.S.
and allied conquest and occupation. This, in itself, however modest but
important, is a gain for the Syrian people. It widens opportunities for
future Syrian revolutionary socialist fighters to organize their own
forces that stand opposed not only to all imperialist intervention but
also against any capitalist government in Syria, including Assad’s.
Today, once again mired in a seemingly endless war in the Middle East,
despised by all who have the vaguest memory of present and past
imperialist wars of conquest and without any “reliable” allies on the
ground, U.S. warmakers today seek a “negotiated” variant of their
previous insistence on “regime change,” that is, President Assad’s removal.
I conclude this argument with reference to an important Sept. 30, 2016,
New York Times article entitled, “Audio Reveals What John Kerry Told
Syrians Behind Closed Doors.” Its author, Anne Barnard, The Times Middle
East Bureau Chief, writes: “Secretary of State John Kerry was clearly
exasperated, not least at his own government. Over and over again, he
complained to a small group of [20] Syrian civilians [at the Dutch
Mission to the United Nations on Sept. 22] that his diplomacy had not
been backed by a serious threat of military force, according to an audio
recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times.
Barnard explains, “At the meeting last week, Mr. Kerry was trying to
explain that the United States has no legal justification for attacking
Mr. Assad’s government, whereas Russia was invited in by the
government.” Kerry added another reason for his discouraging these
Syrian civilians regarding their demands for more overt U.S.
intervention. “A lot of Americans don’t believe that we should be
fighting and sending young Americans over to die in another country,” he
added.
Barnard reports that the secret recording included Kerry’s outlining
U.S. plans to press for “free elections” to be supervised by “regional
powers and the United Nations” that would include all Syrian refugees.
In contrast to President Obama’s longstanding “Assad must go” policy,
the “elections” Kerry outlined would allow for President Assad’s
participation but, as with all imperialist supervised elections, his
assured defeat.
After more than five-years of U.S.-orchestrated war in Syria, marked by
an estimated 500,000 dead and nearly half the nation’s people displaced
or in exile, the chief U.S. imperialist spokesman revealed today’s
updated U.S. policy objectives, presumably to be achieved by further
Special Forces operations, continued overt aid to all who seek Assad’s
removal, and supplying just enough aid to the “rebels” to “keep the war
going,” according to The Times, in anticipation of an eventual
negotiated settlement.
Needless to say, a principled U.S. antiwar movement must reject any and
all “rights” of U.S. imperialism and its “coalition partners” to
negotiate any aspect of Syria’s future. Central to the construction of a
powerful and united antiwar today, fully capable of staying the hand of
the U.S. warmakers and mobilizing tens and hundreds of thousands to do
so, are two demands: U.S. Out Now! and Self-determination for Syria!
Photo: Young girl is wounded in August 2016 bombing attack on eastern
Aleppo by Syrian government planes. Ameer al-Halbi / AFP / Getty Images
Share this:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
13Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)13
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
November 16, 2016 in Middle East. Tags: Syria
Related posts
U.S. imperialism bombs Syria & Iraq
Obama launches new ‘war on terrorism’
U.S. imperialism’s Syria strategy
Post navigation
← Standing Rock: Native American land under siege
End the embargo against Cuba! →
Vote Socialist Action!
Jeff Mackler for President and Karen Schraufnagel for Vice President
More information:
Newspaper Archives
Newspaper Archives Select Month November 2016 (13) October 2016 (12)
September 2016 (10) August 2016 (10) July 2016 (14) June 2016 (14)
May 2016 (9) April 2016 (12) March 2016 (14) February 2016 (8)
January 2016 (11) December 2015 (11) November 2015 (9) October 2015
(8) September 2015 (10) August 2015 (7) July 2015 (13) June 2015 (9)
May 2015 (10) April 2015 (12) March 2015 (9) February 2015 (11)
January 2015 (10) December 2014 (12) November 2014 (11) October 2014
(9) September 2014 (6) August 2014 (10) July 2014 (11) June 2014 (10)
May 2014 (11) April 2014 (10) March 2014 (9) February 2014 (11)
January 2014 (11) December 2013 (10) November 2013 (11) October 2013
(17) September 2013 (13) August 2013 (10) July 2013 (11) June 2013
(15) May 2013 (14) April 2013 (14) March 2013 (12) February 2013
(10) January 2013 (17) December 2012 (7) November 2012 (8) October
2012 (19) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (27) July 2012 (18) June
2012 (3) May 2012 (19) April 2012 (14) March 2012 (17) February
2012 (19) January 2012 (17) December 2011 (3) November 2011 (33)
October 2011 (14) September 2011 (13) August 2011 (34) July 2011 (24)
June 2011 (19) May 2011 (19) April 2011 (15) March 2011 (15) February
2011 (16) January 2011 (15) December 2010 (17) November 2010 (1)
October 2010 (6) September 2010 (3) August 2010 (8) July 2010 (7)
June 2010 (2) May 2010 (9) April 2010 (3) March 2010 (8) February
2010 (3) January 2010 (9) December 2009 (6) November 2009 (5) October
2009 (16) September 2009 (3) August 2009 (2) July 2009 (5) June 2009
(2) May 2009 (7) April 2009 (6) March 2009 (16) February 2009 (9)
January 2009 (10) December 2008 (11) November 2008 (8) October 2008
(16) September 2008 (14) August 2008 (18) July 2008 (12) June 2008
(3) May 2008 (2) April 2008 (3) March 2008 (14) February 2008 (11)
January 2008 (11) December 2007 (8) November 2007 (1) July 2007 (1)
June 2007 (1) April 2007 (1) March 2007 (1) February 2007 (3)
December 2006 (11) November 2006 (11) October 2006 (13) September
2006 (15) August 2006 (11) July 2006 (18) June 2006 (7) May 2006
(14) April 2006 (6) March 2006 (14) February 2006 (5) January 2006
(2) December 2005 (9) November 2005 (8) October 2005 (13) September
2005 (12) August 2005 (9) July 2005 (16) June 2005 (16) May 2005
(16) April 2005 (12) March 2005 (14) February 2005 (19) January 2005
(15) December 2004 (14) November 2002 (17) October 2002 (19)
September 2002 (22) August 2002 (21) July 2002 (15) May 2002 (21)
April 2002 (21) February 2002 (15) January 2002 (15) December 2001
(17) October 2001 (24) September 2001 (18) July 2001 (19) June 2001
(18) October 2000 (17) September 2000 (21) August 2000 (19) July 2000
(16) June 2000 (26) May 2000 (21) April 2000 (22) March 2000 (28)
February 2000 (18) January 2000 (20) December 1999 (20) November
1999 (26) October 1999 (25) September 1999 (18) August 1999 (40) July
1999 (38) June 1999 (24) May 1999 (27) April 1999 (25) March 1999
(26) February 1999 (29) January 1999 (24) July 1998 (12)
Search
Get Involved
Donate to help support our work
Get email updates
Join Socialist Action
View socialistactionusa’s profile on Facebook
View SocialistActUS’s profile on Twitter
View SocialistActionCT’s profile on YouTube
Subscribe to Our Newspaper
Upcoming Events
No upcoming events
View Calendar
Blog at WordPress.com.
