INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
The Triumph of Ideology Over Reality: Blundering Into Syria? |
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by Paul Craig Roberts Counter Punch Entered into the database on Thursday, October 06th, 2005 @ 11:36:59 MST |
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Not content with the terrorist-breeding instability he caused by invading
Iraq, President Bush is plotting with Israel to repeat the disaster in Syria. The diplomatic editor of the London Telegraph reports (Oct. 5) that the US
is aiming at Syrian "regime change." The British newspaper quotes
Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz as saying that a report blaming Syria for
the assassination of a former Lebanese government official will be the catalyst
that starts the ball rolling. Mofaz says the report will be the pretext for
Bush to impose sanctions on Syria, "beginning with economic sanctions and
moving on to others." The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reports (Oct. 3) that the Bush administration
has asked Israel's government to recommend a successor for Syrian president
Bashar al Assad. No doubt, the Bush administration will describe Israel's selection
of Syria's new president as the workings of democracy. The Stratfor Intelligence Brief reports (Oct. 5) that Bush's National Security
Council is deciding whether to bomb Syrian villages along what are thought to
be "the infiltration routes used by jihadists" and to have US special
forces conduct operations inside Syrian territory. Obviously, far from heeding demands from US generals and congressional members
of his own political party for a plan to withdraw from Iraq, Bush intends to
widen the war. How can Bush, his National Security Council, and Israel be so blind to the
consequences of destabilizing Syria? A CIA report concluded that the US invasion
of Iraq created a training ground for al Qaeda. Doesn't Bush understand that
creating chaos in Syria will have the same result? The National Security Council needs to quickly consult some real Middle East
experts before Bush's reckless policies in the face of seething anti-American
sentiment cause the overthrow of US puppet rulers in Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan,
and dethrone the princes ruling the American oil protectorates in the Middle
East. If the Bush administration cannot defeat insurgency in Iraq, how can it defeat
insurgency in Iraq and Syria? In Iraq, Syria, and Iran? The Bush administration
is fanatical, divorced from reality. Last week Lt. Gen. William Odom, former director of the National Security Agency,
said that Bush's invasion of Iraq was "the greatest strategic disaster
in US history." This is quite a distinction for Bush and his government.
Are the morons now going to double the distinction by attacking Syria and quadruple
it by attacking Iran? Why don't Congress and the American public understand that the US cannot afford
to worsen the disaster in which it finds itself? Nothing better illustrates the reality-denying capability of the Bush administration
than its secretary of state Condi Rice's speech at Princeton University on September
30. It is a fantasy speech, devoid of awareness that "regime change"
in Iraq substituted Shi'ite clergy for a secular ruler. The US secretary of
state has no inkling of the conflict generated between Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurd
by the US imposed attempt to produce and to adopt a constitution? The Bush administration's Middle East policy is the triumph of ideology over
reality. Something must be done to stop Bush before he mimics in the MIddle
East Hitler's invasion of Russia. The American people cannot afford the blood
and treasure that the fanatical Bush administration is willing to squander in
the Middle East. What can be done about a president who is immune to reason? A bill of impeachment
is a good start. The Bush administration has already done more damage to Americans than the
September 11 attacks. The American people and their congressional representatives
must hold Bush accountable before it is too late. The Bush administration has
no intention of stopping with Iraq. At Princeton, Condi Rice again declared
the administration's intention to use US military force to transform the societies
in the Middle East. "Now is not the time to falter or fade," declared
the US secretary of state. Such total oblivion to the "greatest strategic disaster in US history"
is far more scary than Muslim terrorists. |