SYRIA NEXT?

Clothes laundered in blood

rahnuma ahmed

Th e c lo th we u se to wip e o u r b o o ts
c o m e s lau n d e re d b ac k in b lo o d ag ain
-- Attila Jzsef, Hungarian poet
March 1937

Libya done. Syria next.

Why? For God's sake why?
The Hungarian poet had said,
All ro u n d , b ig wo rd s b e m u se an d sm o o th
th e v o ic e le ss m ise rie s in m e n
A 'humanitarian war' had to be conducted in Libya, had said western leaders, had said
NATO. Why?
Because Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was killing his own people in Benghazi and other parts
of the country.
Evidence of Benghazi massacres? Those who begged the international community to take
action against the Libyan despot, were unable to provide any.
A humanitarian war was needed because jet attacks ordered by Gaddafi were being conducted
to quell the uprising.
Evidence of air strikes? NATO did not provide any but the Russian military, which was
keenly observing the situation, said their satellite images showed 'nothing of that sort was
going on on the ground.' As far as the Russian military was concerned, 'the attacks some
media were reporting have never occurred' ('NATO bombings, al-Qaeda and the Arab spring,'
Ne w Ag e , October 9, 2011).
The lack of evidence, however, did not deter the UN Security Council from approving
military action in Libya. It was a humanitarian war, we were told. Libyans needed to be
'protected.'
Big wo rd s b e m u se an d sm o o th .
Killing Libyans in order to protect Libyans. Protecting Libyans in order to kill Libyans.

rahnuma ahmed, Clothes laundered in blood, Ne w Ag e , Monday December 05, 2011

NATO conducted 24,140 sorties, including 9,010 strike sorties. Telesur estimates, '1,800 [were]
killed by NATO bombs and, as a result of the entire conflict, something like 50,000 dead in
total persons who were massacred as a result of this invasion, this aggression... ('Telesur
Journalists Speak Truth on Libya,' Glo b al Re se arc h , September 17, 2011).
Civilian casualties caused by NATO bombings were met with 'silence' by the western media
(FAIR, media watchdog, August 18, 2011). What little did get reported, such as this by the
AFP, 'Reporters attended the funerals of victims and saw 28 bodies buried at the local
cemetery.... In the hospital morgue, 30 bodies -- including two children and one woman -were shown along with other bodies which had been torn apart,' included NATO denials. A
NATO spokesman claimed that the target bombed 'was a military facility clearly.'
Allegations of civilian casualties were brushed off by NATO, there was no 'reliable method of
verifying these allegations,' said colonel Roland Lavoie, as they 'did not have any troops on
the ground in Libya.'
A lie. '[B]efore the NATO attack on Libya even began, hundreds of British, American and
French Special Forces were sent to Libya at the end of February to train and command the
Al-Qaeda led rebel army. These Special Forces troops were later caught on camera
fraternizing with rebels by an Al-Jazeera film crew' ('US Special Forces arrive in Libya,' Priso n
Plan e t, March 1, 2011).
But even if one were to accept NATO's no-troops-on-the-ground story at face value, the logic
doesn't hold. For, as Hamit Dardagan asks, if the justification of the bombing of Libya was to
protect civilians, why weren't casualties recorded? (Gu ard ian , August 29, 2011).
It was a 'moral duty,' said Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission. It,
meaning bombing Libya.
All ro u n d , b ig wo rd s b e m u se an d sm o o th
th e v o ic e le ss m ise rie s in m e n
'A moral duty' which covered the reality of b o d ie s to rn ap art by NATO bombings.
Voiceless miseries in women too, in children, elderly and sick. Miseries and deaths unheeded,
for, as US general Tommy Franks who directed the Iraq invasion had said, 'we don't do body
counts.'
Libya is now being spoken of as a 'model', as the title of this Ne w Yo rk Tim e s article
indicates, 'U.S. Tactics in Libya May Be a Model for Other Efforts' (August 28, 2011), one
which may be applied in the case of Syria. It cites administration officials as saying,
'[although] the NATO intervention in Libya...[the] airstrikes to protect civilians, cannot be
applied uniformly in other hotspots like Syria, the conflict may, in some important ways,
become a model for how the United States wields force in other countries where its interests
are threatened.'

rahnuma ahmed, Clothes laundered in blood, Ne w Ag e , Monday December 05, 2011

It cites Ben Rhodes, the director for strategic communications at the National Security
Council, who says the Libyan action has helped establish two principles for the United States,
laid out by president Barack Obama at a speech at George Washington University on March
28. America had a responsibility to 'stop a looming genocide in the Libyan city of Benghazi
(Principle 1).' And Principle 2, 'where action can be justified in the case of genocide, say -the United States will act only on the condition that it is not acting alone.'
'How much we translate to Syria remains to be seen,' said a senior administration official.
Th e c lo th e s will b e lau n d e re d b ac k in b lo o d ag ain .
While the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is no saint -- 'the Syrian regime is by no means
democratic' (Michel Chossudovsky), 'the regime headed by Bashar al-Assad is repressive since
almost everyday reports are coming out that more bloodshed has taken place' (M K
Bhadrakumar) -- it is obvious that the objective of the US-NATO-Israeli military alliance is
not to promote democracy in Syria but to install a subservient regime in Damascus.
Regime change in Syria is part of a longstanding project, attested to by former NATO
commander, general Wesley Clark who, in a video interview to DemocracyNow, March 2,
2007, had revealed Pentagon's plans 'to take out seven countries in five years, starting with
Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.' ('9/11, growing
disbelief at US government's account a decade later, New Age, September 11, 2011). And, as
Chossudovsky points out, 'the road to Tehran goes through Damascus.'
Although Syria's regional strategic importance is based less on oil and natural resources, but
more on its strong relationship with Iran and its ability to intervene in Iraqi affairs (Zvi
Bar'el), regime change in Syria is a 'strategic prize that outstrips Libya,' says Alastair Crooke.
He describes how the 'great game' is played, "set up a hurried transitional council as sole
representative of the Syrian people, irrespective of whether it has any real legs inside Syria;
feed in armed insurgents from neighbouring states; impose sanctions that will hurt the
middle classes; mount a media campaign to denigrate any Syrian efforts at reform; try to
instigate divisions within the army and the elite; and ultimately President Assad will fall so
its initiators insist." (Guardian, November 4, 2011).
But even though it is 'no 'game', as the many killed by both sides attest to' (Crooke) th e
c lo th e s wo rn b y we ste rn ru le rs are alway s lau n d e re d b ac k in b lo o d .
An internal uprising 'resulting from mass poverty, oppression, and a lack of economic and
political future' (sound familiar to Wall Street Occupiers?), is being taken advantage of, a
civil war which in effect is 'an armed insurrection supported covertly by foreign powers
including the US, Turkey and Israel.' Senator Lieberman's public demand that the Obama
administration and NATO should attack Syria and Iran like Libya did not occur by 'chance.'
'It is also not coincidental that Iran was included in the sanctions against Syria. The hands of
the Syrian military and government have now been tied internally as a new and broader
offensive is being prepared that will target both Syria and Iran.' (Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya,
Global Research, June 10, 2011).

rahnuma ahmed, Clothes laundered in blood, Ne w Ag e , Monday December 05, 2011

Armed insurgents belonging to Islamist organisations have crossed into Syria from its borders
with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Barack Obama has called for president Assad to step
down; the American State Department has confirmed that it is supporting the insurgency.
'We started to expand contacts with the Syrians, those who are calling for change, both inside
and outside the country,' said Victoria Nuland, a State Department official.
Reports on civilian casualties are being used as a 'pretext and justification for for
humanitarian intervention under the principle Responsibility to Protect.' As Julie Lvesque
points out, western media reports on the repressive tactics used by the Syrian government 'fail
to mention the sources of their information.' (Julie Lvesque, Media Lies Used to Provide a
Pretext for Another "Humanitarian War": Protest in Syria: Who Counts the Dead? Global
Research, November 25, 2011).
They are often referred to 'solely as 'human rights groups' or activists,' which is
understandable when political dissent and opposition is 'life threatening' but it raises
suspicions. 'The "'numbers" can be used to demonize the government, as part of covert
operations by any state or organisation looking for regime change in Damascus.' Information
on casualties from unknown sources when published either by 'a mainstream media or a
recognized human rights group' is 'invariably picked up and considered as "factual evidence"
by other news sources or think tanks, without further verification.' Cautionary clauses such
as 'believed to have been killed,' 'reportedly been killed,' 'reported deaths,' 'unable to verify
independently this information,' disappear.
The 'Syrian uprising,' she writes, seems to be a copy and paste of the 'protest movement' in
Libya. The principal source of information for the mainstream press is the opposition groups,
whose goal, like that of the Local Coordination Committee, is (guess what?) 'regime change.'
'The media neglects military casualties and fails to report that armed gunmen, 17,000
according to a report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, are among the
protesters.' Or, to probe and question, as Bhadrakumar points out, the circumstances in
which 120 Syrian security personnel could have been shot and killed in one 'incident'.
To understand how truth gets laundered in the chain of institutions and relationships, I turn
to Paul Craig Roberts, author, and former assistant secretary of Treasury in the Reagan
administration, the American military-security complex, he says, 'needs wars for its profits,
and the United States government is in favor of these wars and profits because money gets
recycled back in political contributions. So, for the United States government war is a way of
recycling tax-payers money through the military-security complex back into political
campaigns.'
'The prostitute United States media serves as a propaganda ministry for all of these
deceptions, there is no honest reporting in any of the American print or TV media. This of
course serves the media because it is entertainment for Americans, oh, we are kicking
somebody else's butt, we are a great macho power, we are on the march here and there and so
on, this form of entertainment helps their advertising revenues, keeps them in the
government's good stead, so [that] all the broadcast licenses are renewed.'
My only point of disagreement is over his use of the word prostitutes, for they have dignity.
rahnuma ahmed, Clothes laundered in blood, Ne w Ag e , Monday December 05, 2011

In a situation where the American president can speak of launching genocides to stop genocides,
where NATO can launch campaigns that kill civilians in order to protect them, where the western
media colludes in acting as the propaganda ministry of war-mongers, I can only to turn to Attila
Jzsef,

Me n wo m e n all h av e so ld th e m se lv e s.
A h e art? Th e y ke e p it c lo se as sin .
He arts to rn b y h ate I p ity y o u ,
I sh u d d e r to se e h atre d win .

rahnuma ahmed, Clothes laundered in blood, Ne w Ag e , Monday December 05, 2011