By
Joe Giambrone on Sep 6, 2013
Polls show Americans overwhelmingly reject any form of US military intervention in Syria’s civil war, with as little as
4% support for an invasion. Peace protests have sprung up, with
further demonstrations planned this weekend ahead of a likely war vote in both houses of Congress next week.

Even active military service members have asserted a resounding rejection of this
conflict, some
photographing themselves
holding signs in front of their faces to avoid retaliation. Images
posted to Twitter, Facebook and the wider web state that, “I will not
fight for Al Qaeda in Syria.”
Reports out of the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg show similar
rejection of this proposed action. Only France seems ready to commit to
the US coalition. Russia has stood firmly against the US demands, and
the Chinese spokesman argued that the price of oil would spike in the
event of a new war. The Pope urged politicians to “lay aside the futile
pursuit of a military solution.” As details of the meetings emerged,
Time assessed that, “Apart from France, no one was ready to take up arms with the U.S. in Syria.”
Despite massive public opposition to any military action against the
Assad government, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a
hastily-assembled war authorization resolution on Wednesday.
“Al Qaeda?”
The Syrian opposition rebels’ long string of atrocities has not
inspired confidence for their cause in the west, as genocidal massacres
in rebel held areas continue to be
reported.
“U.N. investigators released a
particularly detailed and horrific report that slams both sides,
accusing rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad of murder,
rape, torture and forced disappearances.”
Ethnic cleansing and summary executions of civilians and captured
soldiers have been reported since 2011. Invading Sunni militias have
repeatedly targeted government loyalists, non-Muslims and non-Sunni
Muslims. A recent
report dramatizes the situation on the ground:
“We are still finding people who were
killed in their homes, and bodies left in bushes,” said Sheikh Mohammed
Reda Hatem, an Alawite religious leader in Latakia. “Until now 150
Alawites from the villages have been kidnapped. There are women and
children among them.”
Even the Obama Administration acknowledged that the Al Nusra Front
inside Syria are terrorists and placed the group and its affiliates on
the
State Department’s terrorism list
in December of 2012. Yet, the administration insists on aiding these
same rebel opposition forces on the grounds that they are a minority of
the opposition fighters.
Secretary of State John Kerry
claimed:
“Maybe 15% to 25% might be in one group or another who are what we would deem to be bad guys.”
This vague claim of Al Nusra/Al Qaeda minority status has been made
without any corroborating evidence. Yet even John Kerry concedes that
up to one in four of the people who will militarily benefit from a US
bombing campaign against Syria are “bad guys.”
Consider this:
By America’s own laws, providing any aid at all to a designated terrorist organization would be considered “
material support for terrorism.”
Nevertheless, the U.S. and its allies in the region have directly
supported these designated Al Nusra terrorist organizations and
currently seek to increase this aid by orders of magnitude.
Grayson v. Hagel
As the debate over Syria moved into the Congress, Secretary of
Defense Chuck Hagel made his case for attacking Syria. When confronted
by Representative Alan Grayson (D, FL-9th), Hagel
responded with some of the most intriguing testimony to date.
GRAYSON: Secretary Hagel, there’s been a
report in the media that the administration has mischaracterized
post-attack Syrian military communications, and that these
communications actually express surprise about the attack. This
is a very serious charge. Can you please release the original
transcripts so that the American people can make their own judgment
about that important issue?
HAGEL: What um, transcripts are you referring to?
Hagel expresses complete ignorance of the alleged
evidence against the Syrian government that his direct boss,
President Obama, has told the world is central to their case for war:
“Our intelligence shows the Assad regime
and its forces preparing to use chemical weapons, launching rockets in
the highly populated suburbs of Damascus, and acknowledging that a chemical weapons attack took place.”
-Barack Obama, August 31, 2013
Representative Grayson repeated the request to Hagel.
GRAYSON: The transcripts that were
reported that took place after the attack in which the government has
suggested that they confirm the existence of an attack, but actually
it’s been reported that Syrian commanders expressed surprise about the
attack having taken place, not confirmed it.
HAGEL: Well, that’s probably classified. Uh congressman, I’d have to go back and review exactly what you’re referring to.
GRAYSON: Well, you will agree that it’s
important that the administration not mislead the public in any way
about these reports, won’t you?
Hagel finished up the round by stating, “I have no idea what exactly
you’re talking about…” Taking the United States Secretary of Defense at
face value, if he sincerely has no idea about any details of the actual
alleged evidence against the Syrian state, a UN signatory, one might
ask why he’s found it a matter of national urgency to launch a military
attack on that nation, in clear violation of international law.
International Law: Putin v. Obama
As agreed to by all parties concerned, in the United Nations Charter, the Russian President Putin had
this to say:
“…(A)nything that is outside the U.N.
Security Council is aggression, except self-defense. Now what Congress
and the U.S. Senate are doing in essence is legitimizing aggression.
This is inadmissible in principle.”
Beyond the legal realm, Putin escalated his rhetoric and verbal attack on the US administration.
“They lie beautifully, of course. I saw
debates in Congress. A congressman asks Mr Kerry: ‘Is al Qaeda there?’
He says: ‘No, I am telling you responsibly that it is not’ … Al Qaeda
units are the main military echelon, and they know this … But he is
lying and knows he is lying. It’s sad.”
Tensions between the nuclear-armed powers are currently at dangerous
levels. The US delegate to the UN, Samantha Power, fired back at the
Russians, claiming:
“In the wake of the flagrant shattering
of the international norm against chemical weapons use, Russia continues
to hold the council hostage and shirk its international
responsibilities…”
Power signaled that the UN Security Council would no longer be
relevant to US decisions on Syria. This breakdown in the established
international order may have numerous ramifications and unintended
consequences as this crisis unfolds.
The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon,
responded to the impending US military action:
“The use of force is lawful only when in
exercise of self-defense in accordance with article 51 of the United
Nations Charter and or when the Security Council approves such action.”
Both the U.S. and Russia continue to relocate warships into the
waters around Syria, with recent reports of four additional Russian
vessels including an
intelligence platform and landing craft. Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov described the move as a stabilizing action:
“Our navy vessels are a guarantee of
stability, guarantee of peace, an attempt to hold back other forces
ready to start military action in the region.”
The US
placed at
least five destroyers, equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles and
helicopters as well as a landing vessel manned by US Marines into the
eastern Mediterranean. US diplomats have now been
recalled from Lebanon.
Other regional powers have taken steps in preparation for a wider war in Syria.
Israel called up its army reserves and began distributing gas masks to the public. Iran has
reportedly ordered some
militants in Iraq to retaliate in the event of a US assault on
neighboring Syria. Unnamed US sources have claimed that this Iranian
edict would prompt military actions against the, “U.S. Embassy and other
American interests in Baghdad.”