Chaos and Counterrevolution by Richard Falk

Author:Richard Falk
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781935982531
Publisher: Just World Books
Published: 2015-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

Contra Attacking Syria

August 30, 201313

Informed opinion agrees that the proper response of the West to the Assad regime’s presumed responsibility for the use of chemical weapons on August 21 in Ghuta, a neighborhood east of Damascus, is intended to be punitive and at the same time to deny any ambition to alter the course of the internal struggle for power in Syria or to assassinate Bashar al-Assad. If it achieved some larger goal unexpectedly, this would likely be welcomed—although not necessarily—by Washington, Ankara, Riyadh, and Tel Aviv.

Why not necessarily? Because there is a growing belief in influential Western circles that it is better for the United States and Israel if the civil war goes on and on with no winners.14 Accorded to this warped reasoning, if al-Assad wins, it would produce significant regional gains for Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah; if the Free Syrian Army and its al-Nusra Front and al-Qaeda allies win, it is feared this would give violent extremist forces a base of operations that would work strongly against Western interests. Only Turkey, the frontline opponent of the Assad regime, and Saudi Arabia, the regional champion of Sunni sectarianism, stand to gain by resolving the conflict in favor of the Sunni-led opposition forces: as Ankara and Riyadh see it, this would contribute to greater regional stability, augment their preferred sectarian alignment, and inflict a major setback on Iran and Russia.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are split on whether a regime that has repeatedly committed crimes against humanity against its own people should ever be protected. Their contradictory responses to the el-Sisi coup and massacres in Egypt are illuminating on this score: Turkey adhered to principle despite a sacrifice of its short-term material and political interests in the Middle East, while Saudi Arabia rushed in to provide massive economic assistance and a show of strong diplomatic support for a military takeover that is crushing the leading Muslim political organization in the country.

Another way of thinking about the grand strategy of the United States in the Middle East is suggested by the noted Israeli peace activist and former Knesset member Uri Avnery, who portrays the United States as frantically at work behind the scenes to restore the function of governance to military dictators, with Egypt the new poster child. Avnery attributes these Machiavellian machinations to CIA masterminds swimming in dark waters, entrapping Obama by overriding his strong rhetorical support for democracy in the Arab world.15

The rationale for an American-led attack on Syria is mostly expressed as follows:

America’s credibility is at stake after al-Assad crossed Obama’s “red line” by launching a large-scale lethal chemical weapons attack; doing nothing in response would undermine U.S. global leadership.

America’s credibility makes indispensable and irreplaceable contributions to world order and should not be jeopardized by continued passivity; inaction has been tried for the past two years and failed miserably not clearly tried—Hillary Clinton was an avowed early supporter of the rebel cause, including arms supplies; recent reports indicate American-led “special forces operations” are being conducted to bolster the anti-Assad struggle.

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