Before I begin, I'm going to say that if you believe the US cares about the people in Syria...you're completely delusional. I recall a conversation I had with a friend years ago when Russia offered to destroy Syria's chemical weapons to prevent the United States from serving the Syrian people a heaping spoonful of freedom. I explained that the US would not be denied the opportunity for war and that the situation was far from over. Unfortunately...I was correct.
This in no way defends Assad or his regime...it's simply an expression of compassion for the Syrian people that have suffered under his power and the corrupt leadership of the United States. There is nothing I find more offensive than cowardly chicken hawks like Lindsey Graham and Howard Dean demanding war...neither of which would last an hour under the dismal conditions it creates. I understand war is sometimes a necessary evil…but peace should always be the ultimate goal.
How did Syria reach this point of critical mass? The country experienced a drought from 2006 until 2011, which impacted approximately 60% of the land and Syria experienced massive crop failures as a result. This condition was compounded by the government’s mismanagement of natural resources by subsidizing water-intensive wheat and cotton, as well as unsustainable irrigation techniques. Almost 75% of farmers in the northeast section of the country encountered total crop failure, while herders in the south experienced an 85% loss of their livestock. The Syrian government only allowed wells to be drilled on a sectarian basis, which provoked people into digging illegal wells in protest. https://www.npr.org/2013/09/08/220438728/how-could-a-drought-spark-a-civil-war
The culmination of the drought, refugees migrating from Iraq and large-scale poverty ultimately led to civil unrest and Syria being dragged into the Arab Spring. In February 2011, a powder keg was lit when a group of young people writing protest slogans on a wall were arrested and battered. It was the brutal response of the Syrian government that allowed the United States the opportunity to intervene. The mainstream media would like us to believe that this is a humanitarian issue…but anyone with a shred of intelligence knows that the US government could give half a shit about the people in their own country…let alone a country in the Middle East. Anyone that needs evidence of that statement should refer to the what occurred at the Waco compound in 1993.
WikiLeaks released US government communications from 2006 suggesting that the goal of the US government was to “undermine the Syrian government by any available means, and that what mattered was whether US action would help destabilize the government, not what other impacts the action might have. In public, the US was opposed to ‘Islamist terrorists’ everywhere; but in private it saw the ‘potential threat to the regime from the increasing presence of transiting Islamist extremists’ as an ‘opportunity’ that the US should take action to try to increase.” These extremists are what the media referred to as moderate rebels. Common sense should suggest that these people are anything but moderate.
Syria is no stranger to attempted overthrows perpetrated by outside forces…such as The Islamist Uprising that occurred between 1976 and 1982. The Syrian government was accused of using Sarin gas on its own citizens in 2011 in response to the civil unrest. I say accused because we simply cannot trust what is reported in the media with the old weapons of mass destruction allegation that created a serious mess in Iraq. This is not to say that this atrocity did not occur, but we should be skeptical as to where it originated. Most importantly, we should have compassion for those that are the victims of this inhumane behavior.
The following statement was made by President Obama in August 2011, “The United States cannot and will not impose this transition upon Syria. It is up to the Syrian people to choose their own leaders, and we have heard their strong desire that there not be foreign intervention in their movement. What the United States will support is an effort to bring about a Syria that is democratic, just, and inclusive for all Syrians. We will support this outcome by pressuring President Assad to get out of the way of this transition, and standing up for the universal rights of the Syrian people along with others in the international community.” The reality is that the US was arming murderers that are no different than Assad and created a proxy war between The US and Russia in the process.
It was the Obama administration’s decision to intervene in Syria and Libya, which exacerbated an already dire refugee crisis that has impacted the entire world and changed the demographics of many countries. It was the actions of the Obama administration in Syria and Libya that led to my vote for Donald Trump, who took an anti-war position. Personally, I prefer the wording pro-peace over anti-war. Although my views fall within the lines of Libertarian...I could not vote for Gary Johnson when he looked like a deer in headlight while being asked about Aleppo.
Footage of Aleppo can be seen here.
With ISIS defeated, we are led to believe that Assad would again attack his own people with chemical weapons…something that has absolutely no advantage for his regime to remain in power. Now that the US is falling short in the chess match, President Trump is beating the war drum and threatening to inflict even more misery on the Syrian people…while taunting Russia in the process.
We are a country that is $21 trillion in debt…poised to repeat the mistake Russia made invading Afghanistan in the 80s. I have an unsettling feeling that we are about to experience the karmic retribution of mass murder disgustingly disguised as a humanitarian effort…or perhaps worse.
I urge people to watch the video of geo-political expert Joel Skousen discussing the road to World War III…it’s a surreal discussion of the ramifications of arbitrary war. He suggests that Russia and China will eventually make the argument that the US is the biggest destabilizing force in the world…I don’t think that statement is incorrect. We should be praying for the innocent people that are being murdered…and perhaps one for ourselves as the potential to experience the same suffering does exist.
If you have knowledge of this debacle and find any of this information incorrect…please feel free to clarify.