A View From The Left-NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?-Damn, End The Endless Wars

NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

 

Lesser Evils II

As likely as it is that Americans will continue to face some kind of “lesser evil” decision in the upcoming presidential election, the choice for Syrians is much more stark.  Their lesser evil is considerably worse than anything we might face – but the murderous “greater evil” is positively horrifying.  At our Mass Peace Action forum on Monday, a young Syrian refugee (from a Sunni family) told about the devastation of her country and how moderate or secular Syrians like herself were clinging to the hope that the Assad regime would not be overthrown.  Her response to the analysis written for Peace Action, Syria and Peace was “Exactly what Syrians feel & think...”  Not all Syrians, obviously, but probably a majority at this point. Dictators like Bashar al-Assad or Iraq’s Saddam Hussein repressed open political dissent, but they allowed people to live as they chose in their day-to-day lives. The Islamists in Syria enforce extreme religious dictates that oppress women, promise even less democracy and deny any kind of normal life.  Which is the lesser evil?

 

Incidentally, speaking of our own upcoming “lesser evil” election, journalist Stephen Kinzer pointed out at the same fo rum Monday that if Hillary Clinton had remained secretary of state in Obama’s second administration there likely would not have been an Iran nuclear agreement.

 

“We are from Saudi Arabia and We Are Here to Help!”

One of those well-rehearsed folksy chestnuts that Ronald Reagan used to recite went like this:

I think you all know that I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: “I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.”  

That was always a nonsensical with respect to the US.  However, in the Middle East and many other regions of the world, not so much. Think Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya – and Nicaragua, Chile, Indonesia and many more examples. When coupled with a seeming parallel offer from Saudi Arabia, then it’s probably the time for millions of secular people and members of religious minorities to keep a packed bag near the door.

Saudi ready to send ground troops to Syria

Saudi Arabia is ready to join any ground operation the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Syria might decide on, a general from the kingdom said on Thursday.  "If there is any willingness in the coalition to go in the ground operation, we will contribute positively in that," Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri told AFP.  US Defence Secretary Ash Carter welcomed the offer, saying increased activity by other countries would make it easier for the United States to accelerate its fight against IS. "That kind of news is very welcome," he told reporters while on a visit to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada… US senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have called for 100,000 foreign soldiers, most from Sunni regional states but also including Americans, to fight IS in Syria.   More

 

Saudis Spare Poet His Life, But He’ll Get 800 Lashes

A court in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday revised the punishment given to a stateless Palestinian poet convicted of apostasy, reducing it from death to eight years in prison, 800 lashes and public repentance, his lawyer said.  The poet, Ashraf Fayadh, had been sentenced to beheading because of the apostasy conviction announced in November, based partly on his published poetry.  The sentence stirred outrage among international artists and human rights groups at a time when Saudi officials were seeking to rebut comparisons between their application of Sharia law and the practices of the Islamic State extremist group. The sentence also came near the end of a year in which the Saudi authorities carried out the highest number of executions here in two decades, and just before a mass execution of 47 men on terrorism charges, including a Shiite cleric who had called for the downfall of the royal family.  More

 

America's New Vietnam in the Middle East

Right now, as Americans keep a wary eye on the Islamic State (IS), there are only two competing stories out there about the devolving situation in the Middle East: think of them as the mission-creep and the make-the-desert-glow stories. The Obama administration suggests that we have to “defend” America by gradually ratcheting up our efforts, from air strikes to advisers to special operations raids against the Islamic State. Administration critics, especially the Republican candidates for president, urge us to “defend” ourselves by bombing IS to smithereens, sending in sizeable contingents of American troops, and rapidly upping the military ante. Despite the fact that the Obama administration and Congress continue to dance around the word “war,” both versions are obviously war stories. There’s no genuine peace story in sight.    More

 

REP. JIM MACGOVERN: America Cannot Afford an Endless War in Afghanistan

After decades of war, the United States learned the hard way that we could exit Vietnam and be stronger for it. A perpetual war in Indochina ended when we were chased out, with helicopters rescuing Americans from rooftops.  Today in Afghanistan, we are at a crossroads similar to the one we faced in Vietnam. We must remember the lessons we learned and stop Afghanistan from becoming another endless war.  In Afghanistan, there is no clear end game and no clear formula for success. This is the longest war in our country's history and another five or 10 or 25 years are not likely to bring about democracy, a stable government or a definitive end to the Taliban's threat to Kabul.  The simple truth is that there is no military solution to the crisis in Afghanistan, only a political solution. And only the Afghan people themselves can determine the fate of their future.   More

 

Despite promises of no boots on the ground, we have thousands of troops in Iraq and Syria

“The boots on the ground have to be Iraqi,” President Obama insisted in a September 2014 interview.  “The resolution we’ve submitted today does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria,” he maintained in a speech at the White House in February 2015. Obama added, “As I’ve said before, I’m convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East.”  “Local forces on the ground who know their countries best are best positioned to take the ground fight to ISIL, and that’s what they’re doing,” he asserted.  Despite Obama’s frequent insistence to the contrary, nevertheless, today there are thousands of American troops on the ground in Iraq. The New York Times quietly noted in its Jan. 28 article “More Is Needed to Beat ISIS, Pentagon Officials Conclude” that 3,700 U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq.   More

 

Number of US Troops in Iraq More Than 4,000, Exceeds Previous Claims

The U.S. routinely has more troops on the ground in Iraq than the 3,500-3,600 frequently cited by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, the high command and President Barack Obama, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said Wednesday.  "It's fair to say" that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq serving as trainers and advisors -- or in support or on special assignment -- was well above 4,000 on a daily basis, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve led by Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland.  In a video briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon, Warren essentially confirmed a Daily Beast report that the current number of U.S. troops in Iraq was about 4,450.   More

 

U.S. killing more civilians in Iraq, Syria than it acknowledges

In almost a-year-and-a-half of bombing Iraq and Syria, the United States admits to killing just 22 innocent people. An independent monitoring group says the real figure could be more than a thousand. The explanation for the U.S. military’s impossibly low number can be found in the very way it investigates its own airstrikes. A CENTCOM spokesman told us that all civilian casualties were investigated — even if something as insubstantial as an anonymous post to Twitter was the only source. But some U.S. investigations were cursory at best, amounting to what appears to be willful blindness… “You build in your countries and destroy in ours?” asked Abdul-Aziz al Hassan, who lost his father in the bombing at al Gharra. “Is this how you bring democracy? Stop it. Really, stop it. People are tired.”   More