While
Donald Trump is currently facing brickbats over his personal, very controversial ties with Vladimir Putin, perhaps the most significant move
by Trump to demonstrate his not being a Russian stooge was his ordering a
strike in Syria against Assad’s men.
However,
subsequently, Trump’s outreach to Putin on 2nd May 2017 by way of a
telephonic conversation in which the two apparently agreed to set up “safe” or
“de-escalation zones” in the country coulds relieve the embattled civilian
population. The White House also announced it would send a representative to
the next round of Syrian peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, the week, with not
only NATO member Turkey but even Russia and Iran sponsoring the talks, and this is
an interesting development. Especially so, after Trump, having been accused of
being Putin’s stooge, had proved otherwise by launching missiles against the Assad regime, Russia’s
ally, in the wake of chemical attacks on Syrian civilians attributed to the
Assad regime by Trump. But Trump’s strikes could have been motivated by reasons
other than only proving himself to not be a puppet of Moscow, which could
include his regime’s pandering to Israel and Saudi Arabia, like preceding
American regimes.
The
chemical attacks in Syria in April 2017, followed by American strikes on Syrian
troops under the Trump administration, when Trump had earlier explicitly called
for standing by Assad not interfering in the Syrian regime’s fight against the
ISIS, marking a
major U-turn, have attracted much attention. Trump had explicitly stated
that he would back Assad and that under him, the United States would not engage
itself militarily in the task of changing regimes in the Middle East, something
he clearly backtracked on, and Democrats
(with some exceptions like female US military veteran Tulsi Gabbard) supported
this move for it was in continuation with Obama’s policy, giving it the touch
of bipartisan support, but several fellow Republicans like Patrick Buchanan who
had supported Trump have
been critical of the move, as have
been independent commentators like Tarek Fatah
who had, though expressing some reservations, very vocally backed Trump as a
better contender than Hillary for the fight against Islamism (a political
ideology aimed at imposing a totalitarian brand of Islam at variance with
modern human rights values). Another fairly detailed article has also been critical
of the strikes. On the international front, the strikes met with disapproval not
only from Russia (that has been backing Assad) but even other rising powers
like India and China.
Given
that both Israel and Saudi Arabia, America’s two allies in the Middle East,
seem to be more at loggerheads with Iran and the Iran-backed Assad regime than
the ISIS (the
Israeli defence minister has explicitly said so)
till the ISIS as a force actually comes to effectively threaten them (the Saudi
government has been strict with individuals seeking to join the ISIS), in the
absence of any evidence, suspicions do point at them for being behind the
chemical attacks. Indeed, the Trump administration seems to be going soft on
both these countries, supporting
the regime of Saudi Arabia in its bombardment of Yemen
and not
taking a firm stand against the much criticized Israeli policy of introducing
more Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Interestingly, Israel, despite its liberal social character and doing a fairly
decent job of accommodating Muslim and Christian minorities within its borders
(with notable exceptions in the form of Jewish fanatics seeking a hard-line
theocratic Jewish regime in Israel), indeed has followed hard-line Zionist
policies when it comes to issues like settlements (criticized even by many
liberal Israeli Jewish people). And of course, Saudi Arabia’s stringent Islamist laws are
indeed very well-known (with secular dissenters like Raif Badawi facing brutal
treatment), which are not to be seen in as much measure even in other Wahabi
Arab countries like Qatar and the UAE, and despite the contempt that hardliners
among both Jews and Muslims have for the other community, interestingly, Zionism
had helped create the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Trump’s inclusion of Shia-majority Iran, which has been fighting the ISIS and
has no significant history of producing terrorists from among its population,
in the list of countries for his immigration ban (stalled by the judiciary) and
not Saudi Arabia also seemed to many to be a part of his attempt to appease
Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Indeed, I am not in any way even for a moment endorsing those conspiracy theories that suggest the non-existence of jihadist terrorism
altogether (for those who give even an iota of plausibility to conspiracy
theories about jihadist terrorism, see this
article, this
one, this
one and this
one), nor is it my intention to suggest
that jihadist terrorists are all mercenaries of powers like Israel, nor am I denying that jihadist terrorism, in which even educated, employed people
partake with a genuine lure of martyrdom and paradise, indeed has to do with
certain extremist and controversial interpretations of Islamic theology with a
very regressive, sexist and religious-intolerant worldview (and not necessarily only out of some possibly genuine resentment against Western powers for their
foreign policy approaches), and certainly, the menace of the ISIS needs to be
eliminated, but it is irksome to see that those who should be uniting against
the ISIS (including Assad’s autocratic but secular government, a lesser evil
than the ISIS by all means) are fighting with each other.
The
chemical warfare in Syria along with the politics of blame attached with it had
begun much earlier in December 2012 and August 2013 under Obama when a very
similar course of action involving missile strikes was undertaken by the US administration,
and given that controversy, it is even more unlikely that the Assad regime
would resort to chemical attacks now.
Even
back in 2012, the US explanation behind the incidents in Syria, or the lack of
it, projected more of a poorly knit tale, failing parameters of logic.
Subsequently, it seemed all the more true that both Israel and Saudi Arabia had
a major role in enabling the Obama administration to wage a war against Syria.
The
four-page
intelligence report for the August 2013
attacks, submitted by the Obama administration, according to Richard Guthrie
(former project head of the Chemical and Biological Warfare Project, Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute), was full of loopholes. One such
example is the claim of the alleged interception of communications made by the
Syrian government, to which no transcripts were made available. The lack of
substantiation was even evident in the speeches made by the Obama
administration, adding to the lack of a definite confirmation in the
intelligence report.
Losing
further credibility, the report stated unnamed social media accounts as a part
of data or evidence, claiming that there are proofs of ‘videos, witness
accounts and social media reports’ allegedly from various locations in the
Damascus region. Upon closer introspection, there was more likelihood that
these unnamed sources of information may well have been from ‘foreign funded
insurgents, Israeli and Saudi media, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights or
the NGO doctors’. Coincidently, these very sources were also responsible for the
support of insurgency and military intervention in Syria.
Furthermore,
among the sources of intelligence and communication interceptions included Israel, which is particularly dishonorable when it comes to
tampering with evidence. The intelligence report also claimed to have known of
the attack well in advance, to which, former senior research fellow at the
European Union’s institute of Security Studies, questioned the integrity of US
in not having warned the world of such a heinous and deadly attack.
History
is evidence that the anti government forces operating in Syria are supported by
the US government, who have an ill track record of using chemical weapons, to
which the Obama administration have kept tight-lipped. Despite the claims of
the anti government forces alleging the Syrian military to have carried out the
attack on Homs in December, 2012, CNN
reports have confirmed that it was indeed
the US military that trained the rebel forces in both securing and handling
chemical weapons. The insurgents in the name of Destructive Wind Chemical
Battalion, not just threatened with the use of nerve gas, but in fact released
a video
of its use and implication on rabbits,
clearly alluding to their motive of destruction.
Le
Figaro, a French newspaper, further reported that the 2 brigades of rebel
fighter, duly trained by the CIA, Jordanians, Saudis and Israelis crossed into
Syria from the Hashemite kingdom in Jordon, on the 17th and 19th
of August, 2013. The US investment in training and the loss thereafter, must
have a prompted the US to use
chemical weapons in Damascus
as a ploy to recuperate.
However,
the procurement of these weapons is a pertinent question in itself and according
to the Independent, a leading British
newspaper, it was indeed the Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan, who alerted in
February 2013, the use of Sarin gas by the Syrian regime.
To
support this claim, a report
by Yahya Ababneh, which recorded the
testimonies of witnesses, indicated that the rebels had procured the chemical
weapons from Prince Bandar, the Saudi
Intelligence chief.Further testimonies which include that of a female rebel
fighter, claim to have not been provided with any information regarding the use
or nature of these weapons. Additionally, the description of the weapons as
indicated by Abdel Moneim clearly indicated to the procurement and distribution
of chemical weapons by Saudi Arabia to the rebel forces on the one hand, while
on the other to the role of Israel in providing a cover in order to wage a
chemical war against Damascus.
The
Syrian government had given due notice to the UN inspectors, warning them of a
possible chemical attack and in addition, took important steps in ensuring that
the anti-government militia would be kept away from their reach, in a closely
guarded compound. Yet, on March 19, 2013, the rebel forces launched a chemical
attack on the Syrian government forces. The blame, however, was put on the
Syrian government itself for carrying out the attack, by the insurgents and
their foreign allies including the US government. On the contrary, Carla
Del Ponte, a UN investigator, after thorough
investigation, debunked the same.
The
hypocrisy that the US endorses was then quite evident in the moralistic tone
while condemning the attacks on the one hand, while on the other by selling
cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. This was further highlighted during the
aftermath of the August attack, when they requested for an investigation, while
on the contrary found to have all the answers and proofs to hold the Syrian
government guilty.
However,
upon closer introspection, the claim made by the Obama administration defied
all logic. The argument claimed that the Syrian government used chemical
weapons on their own turf in order to put the blame on US and its allies.
Furthermore, they chose to do the same on the very day when UN inspectors were
arriving in Damascus seems more like a hollow argument without any substance.
Even BBC, which is state sponsored and clearly biased, admitted to the
strangeness in the facts as presented by the Obama administration.
The
US government’s claim against the Syrian government, further adds to their foul
record of waging war against countries in order to claim power before the dawn
of further negotiations, in which it has had an upper hand over the Syrian
government.
The
chemical strike on Syria on the 7th of April, 2017, further adds to
the allegations made against US and its allies. Robert
Parry, an Iran Contra Journalist, claims
that the attack in Syria was initiated from an operation
base in Jordan run by the Saudi-Israeli coalition.
Parry asserts that the logic behind the attack was to send the reversal of
Trump administration’s announcement through, which was earlier done in
March.
The
chemical weapons attack in 2013, was a revelation in the continuing blame game
spurred by the US, which rendered the responsibility over Saudi Arabia- the
suppliers of the chemical weapons, when the rebels admitted to Dave Gavlack, a
correspondent of the Associated Press over Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the
event. For a fact, Saudi Arabia, already
has a track record of indulging in chemical warfare which can be further
substantiated with its assault
on Yemen in August 2016, where it had
attacked the civilian population, killing and injuring several in Sana’s’ ninth
district.
The
ground on which Parry dismisses the four page report from the NSC is that it only
makes assertions rather than providing any actual evidence. The report clearly
states the inability to release the necessary details under the pretext of
security, to which, Parry elucidates on examples of former Presidents who have
taken a different course, including the likes of John F. Kennedy and Ronald
Reagan.
Prior
to providing any substantial evidence to their claims the Trump administration
went on to make grave charges against Russia in covering up Syria’s
responsibility in the use of chemical weapons. The report which claims to have
“signals intelligence and geospatial intelligence” of a plane carrying chemical
weapons leaving from the Syrian military airfield was never released in order
to safeguard their methods and sources. The report itself, fails to clarify and
elucidate on the reasons to withhold this information, especially, regarding
US’ history of releasing such details under John F. Kennedy and Ronald
Reagan.
Additionally,
Theodore
Postol, a professor at the MIT, further
builds on the claims against the dossier, alleging a serious lack of ‘concrete’
evidence. He further adds that the main evidence submitted in dossier is a
photograph which just alludes to the attacks being made from ground rather that
air. However, Postol argues that the photograph has been tampered with and the
entire incident seems staged thereby raising serious issues regarding the
politicization of intelligence.
On
the 4th April incident, US officials had informed Parry of a drone
presence in the area which may have been suspected to carry the bomb.
Initially, the analysts struggled to locate the path of the drone. However,
later it was declared that the drone was launched from a Saudi-Israeli joint
base in order to support the Syrian rebels. This indeed sent out a clear and
strong message of Trump’s reversal, which formerly promised against the removal
of Bashar al-Assad.
The
dossier
released by the Trump Administration
clearly backs the intelligence analysts’ claims to have traced the delivery of
poison gas, which led to the attack on April 6. However, the lack of clarity in
the dossier and the lack of explanation later, both indicate to a malicious act
within. On the same lines of argument, even the photograph
released from the White House
on 6th April, shows no sign of CIA Director Mike Pompeo or Director
of National Intelligence Dan Coats, thereby questioning the integrity of the
dossier later released.
The
dossier on the same also renders Russia and others culpable of covering up for
the chemical weapons attack. However, before the 6th April 2017
attack, even the US military intelligence acknowledged the former poison gas
incident may have occurred due a rupture in a container from a conventional
bombing episode. This further elucidates on the ambiguity in concluding to a
definite statement, especially under the circumstances of war. However, this
dossier claims the contrary, blaming Damascus into launching an attack.
It
is indeed rather unfortunate that petty geopolitical games are coming in the
way of uniting against the ISIS, though we need a united front against the ISIS
the way we had against the Axis Powers, with Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin,
Mao and Chang kai Shek – all united.
By:
Karmanye Thadani
Knowledge Council
The author would like to thank his friend Girish Nair for his inputs.
Karmanye Thadani
Knowledge Council
The author would like to thank his friend Girish Nair for his inputs.
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