Middle East

Who Benefits From A War Between The United States And Syria?

"The party that stands to benefit the most is Saudi Arabia, and they won't even be doing any of the fighting. They have been pouring billions of dollars into the conflict in Syria, but so far they have not been successful in their attempts to overthrow the Assad regime. Now the Saudis are trying to play their trump card - the U.S. military. If the Saudis are successful, they will get to pit the two greatest long-term strategic enemies of Sunni Islam against each other - the U.S. and Israel on one side and Shia Islam on the other. In such a scenario, the more damage that both sides do to each other the happier the Sunnis will be. There would be other winners from a U.S. war with Syria as well." Continue reading →

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Libyan official on Saudi Prince Bandar delivering Israeli chemicals to Syrian terrorists

"A high-level anonymous official with the Libyan Ministry of Defense granted an interview to the Voice of Russia and discussed matters of intelligence surrounding the chemical attack in Syria. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, when asked if he could verify admissions by Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan that he controlled the terrorists groups in Syria, including Chechen terrorist formations, stated that this was true. The official then stated that there were rumors in the Libyan Defense Ministry that it was actually Bandar who delivered the chemical weapons from Israel to the Syrian insurgents and that it was Israel who was pushing the United States for a military attack on Syria." Continue reading →

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White House sends resolution to Congress asking for approval on Syria strikes

"The White House formally asked Congress Saturday for authorization to conduct military strikes in Syria in a draft resolution framing a narrow set of operations, in a bid to ease fears of another open-ended war. The document says support from Congress, requested by President Barack Obama in a stunning development on Saturday, would 'send a clear signal of American resolve.' 'The objective of the United States use of military force in connection with this authorization should be to deter, disrupt, prevent and degrade the potential for future uses of chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction,' the draft resolution reads." Continue reading →

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Syria and the Albright Syndrome

"Much like the person with a hammer, to whom everything looks like a nail—we continue to believe that every problem can be solved by the military. Sadly—regardless of the administration’s overall political views—we continue to suffer from Madeleine Albright syndrome. As Secretary of State, Albright challenged then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell’s view that the United States should restrict its military interventions to situations in which vital U.S. interests were threatened, quipping: 'What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?'" Continue reading →

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Can Obama Control Syrian Outcomes?

"Obama is speaking of a 'limited, narrow act'. The fact is, however, that he has no control over the short-term and long-term responses of the Syrians, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Russians, Israel, and the Iranians. He has no control over current and future terrorists. He may imagine that he is executing a tit for tat or a surgical strike, but the other players need not accept that way of looking at a cruise missile attack. In all probability, their memories and histories suggest that they are not going to consider this attack an isolated event. They will surely connect it to the entire history of U.S. actions in the past, especially those of the past 10 years. I have to wonder who is advising the President at this juncture." Continue reading →

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The U.S. Will Regret Intervention in Syria

"One argument for U.S. intervention in Syria is as a message to Iran to take seriously U.S. threats toward its nuclear program—on which Obama has also painted himself into a corner by saying he will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. Yet military options to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons or a nuclear capability have never been very credible—bombing likely will not get all of Iran’s nuclear facilities and will likely only spur Iran to accelerate the program to deter further attacks. In fact, limited U.S. intervention in Syria may not only fail to intimidate Iran, but act as a similar nuclear accelerant." Continue reading →

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Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack

"'They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,' complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ 'We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.' 'When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them,' she warned. A well-known rebel leader in Ghouta named ‘J’ agreed. 'They merely used some ordinary rebels to carry and operate this material,' he said. 'We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions,' ‘J’ said." Continue reading →

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The Return of the Dodgy Dossier

"How about consulting the open source record of serial hoaxes by the Syrian rebel propaganda team? First they did a replay of the old 'incubator babies' hoax, only this time instead of Saddam Hussein being cast in the role of baby-killing mad dictator it’s Assad. When that didn’t fly, they claimed the village of Houla had been the site of a massacre by government forces: the evidence they offered turned out to be a photo of taken in Iraq during the US invasion. They fooled the BBC – which ran it over stories about the alleged 'massacre' – until the photographer took umbrage at his work being misused in the service of war propaganda and angrily exposed the fraud." Continue reading →

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Russia: Washington’s threats to attack Syria unacceptable

"Washington’s threat to use military force against Syria unilaterally is unacceptable, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement. He urged the US to wait the results of the UN chemical weapons investigation. Given the lack of evidence, any unilateral military action bypassing the UN Security Council – 'no matter how limited it is'– would be a direct violation of international law and would undermine the prospects for a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria and will lead to a new round of confrontation and victims, Lukashevich concluded." Continue reading →

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