By Brian Becker,
National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition
The Obama administration’s rush to war is hitting obstacles and hurdles. In fact, the rush to war has created a crisis inside the White House. President Obama is undoubtedly recognizing now the potential political consequences of this plan, which appears to the world to be nothing other than a new lawless and reckless act of aggression by the world’s greatest military superpower.
While Kerry and Biden were pounding their fists and demanding new blood in Syria, a dynamic push back began inside the United States and around the world.
They were rushing to war to avoid giving the opposition a chance to build up. They did not think everything through, however. President Obama, for instance, could not order a new bombing campaign on the day before or on the anniversary of the 50th anniversary March on Washington. He could not stand exactly where Dr. King delivered his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, invoking the memory of the greatest figure for peace and civil rights, while having bombs and missiles crash down on Damascus.
During this crucial delay, opposition grew to these crazed war plans.
The unraveling of a lie
The U.S. and British governments asserted that Assad ordered the chemical weapons attack but they lacked something: evidence and proof.
Assad denied the allegations from the beginning, arguing that Syria would not have any interest in using chemical weapons. This is undoubtedly true since that would be the one thing that could trigger a U.S./NATO direct military intervention. The armed rebels fighting Assad can only succeed with the help of direct foreign military intervention.
Secretary of State John Kerry and senior administration officials demanded that the UN cancel their inspections of the area hit by the chemical attack, saying that Assad had delayed their visit to hide the evidence.
But that was a lie and the world learned of the lie.
In truth, Syria had immediately agreed to the UN request to allow in weapons inspectors.
With every passing hour, new information is coming out that exposes the weakness of the U.S. case. The fact that the information is coming out into the open demonstrates that a deep split has emerged within the summits of the government and the military over the rush to war.
The AP just reported that “multiple U.S. officials used the phrase ‘not a slam dunk’ to describe the intelligence picture – a reference to then-CIA Director George Tenet’s insistence in 2002 that U.S. intelligence showing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction as a ‘slam dunk’ – intelligence that turned out to be wrong.”
"American officials said Wednesday there was no 'smoking gun' that directly links President Bashar al-Assad to the attack, and they tried to lower expectations about the public intelligence presentation." (New York Times, Aug. 28)
People in the United States oppose the planned military strikes in the heart of the Arab world.
People in the U.K. are equally opposed to Prime Minister Cameron’s push for war, and opposition is growing. Cameron, like Obama, is now in crisis.
Of course, people throughout the Middle East oppose the bombing of Syria.
Divisions and splits within the political and military establishment provide an opportunity for the mass grassroots movement to help change the political equation.
This is the time to act. Everyone should be in the streets building protests and opposition against a new criminal war in the Middle East conducted by The Empire and for The Empire.
Click here to join a demonstration today or in the coming days in your area.
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