Gray Falcon: Our Syria
As the USA threatens to bomb Syria, here is a comment from Serbia, which was on the receiving end of American bombing in 1999.
Commentary by Željko Cvijanović, Novi Standard (Belgrade), August 30, 2013.
Translated by GrayFalcon. Original here.
When the first missiles strike Syria and we are shown the first horrific images – carefully selected to scare us enough without riling us up too much – it would be nothing we haven’t seen before, in the case of some of us, lived through ourselves. “There is nothing new under the sun,” one could say. Except our eyes are less reliable than ever before. Because there are many new things here, and drawing on analogies can only help us see the heart of the matter – while missing everything else.
1.
America is being led into a new war by a president who got elected claiming to be the antithesis of his belligerent predecessor; who promised Americans hope through changes that would bring the country back from the pitfalls of Bush the Younger’s “wars on terror.” Today, the man who received a Nobel Peace Prize not so long ago as an advance payment for expected greatness, is declaring that it is not a question whether Syria will be bombed, but when.
At last — a humanitarian missile!
Meanwhile, heading the Department of Defense into the conflict is Chuck Hagel – one of the staunchest critics of Bush’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a rare member of the Washington establishment who dared criticize Israel, and almost the lone advocate of dialogue with Iran – in other words, one of the most peaceful Pentagon principals since America began waging war beyond its borders.
Providing the diplomatic cover for missiles and bombers would be Vietnam veteran and anti-interventionist John Kerry, whose arrival at the head of the State Department this winter promised hope for a peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict, due to his cordial relationship with Bashar al-Assad.
Last, but not least, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in this war will be four-star General Martin Dempsey, who opposed a direct intervention by offering a worrying estimate that such an adventure would require “hundreds of scenarios, thousand of soldiers, and billions of dollars.”
There have never been more doves at the top, never less support for a war in the American public, yet America has never been more belligerent. What gives?
via Gray Falcon: Our Syria, where you can read the full text.
Khanya 