White House: Russian Military Action Against ISIS
in Syria Would be 'Destabilizing'
By Daniel McAdams
September 07, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" -
Today's lesson in how propaganda works: The
rumor mill turns a trickle of a
story early this week about "thousands" of Russian soldiers
deploying to Syria any day -- a wholly unsourced story originating
on an Israeli website -- into a torrent of hyperventilating about
the "Russian invasion" of Syria.
Today neocon convicted felon Eliot Abrams took to the Council on
Foreign Relations website to amplify the Israeli article (again with
no sources or evidence) to a whole new and more dramatic article
ominously titled "Putin
in Syria." Abrams adds "reporting" by Michael Weiss, who has
long been on the
payroll of
viscerally anti-Putin oligarch Michael Khodorkovsky, without
revealing the obvious bias in the source. Never mind, all Weiss adds
to Abrams' argument is that the Pentagon is "cagey" about discussing
Russian involvement in Syria before again referencing the original (unsourced)
Israeli article.
See how this works? Multiple media outlets report based on the same
totally unsourced article and suddenly all the world's writing about
the Russian invasion of Syria.
Now the White House has gotten into the game. According to an
article by Agence France Press, the White House is "monitoring
reports" that the Russians are active in Syria.
What reports? The article does not say nor does the White House.
Presumably the White House is referring back to the original (unsourced)
Israeli article.
But in the category of never let a good "crisis" go to waste, the
White House, which began bombing Syria last August in violation of
both international and US law, has declared that any Russian
involvement in the Syria crisis would be "destabilizing and
counterproductive."
Apparently a year of US bombs is not "destabilizing."
This is where the hypocrisy is so thick you could cut it with a
knife. The US is illegally bombing Syria, illegally violating Syrian
sovereignty, illegally training and equipping foreign fighters to
overthrow the Syrian government, and has backed radical jihadists
through covert and overt programs.
ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria were solely the products of the 2003 US
invasion of Iraq under false pretenses -- the lies of the neocons --
and after a year of US bombing ISIS seems as strong as ever while
scores of civilians are killed by US attacks.
All of this is perfectly fine and should never be questioned. But
even the hint that the Russians, who have had to contend with their
fair share of radical Islam and are much closer to Syria than the
US, may have an interest in joining the fight against ISIS is met
with hysterical reproaches by a White House that admits it has no
evidence.
What is the White House afraid of? While the stated goal of the
Obama Administration is to defeat ISIS, the real, long-term goal is
to overthrow Assad. The Russians disagree with the US insistence
that Assad's departure must be the starting point of any political
settlement of the crisis. The Russians have long ago come to
understand that Assad may be key to saving Syria from the kind of
jihadist chaos that has engulfed Libya after its "liberation" by the
US and its allies.
That is why the US government is flirting with the (unsourced
Israeli) rumors of a massive Russian invasion of Syria. Regurgitated
cries that the Russians are coming may serve to divert attention
from another failed US intervention in the region.
One might think that if the US was serious about defeating ISIS it
would welcome involvement from Russia and Iran, both of which would
like nothing more than to see the back of the Islamic State. One
might think if the US was serious about defeating ISIS it would
rethink its "Assad must go" policy and allow the one force that has
the most incentive to defeat ISIS -- the Syrian Arab Army.
Yet the US will only work with the same states that have trained,
funded, and turned a blind eye to the radical Islamic fighters as
they have poured into Syria over the past four years -- Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, etc.
Conspiracy-minded people must be wondering why the US is so
reluctant to accept assistance from forces that so earnestly and
with such military capacity seek the end of ISIS while partnering
with those forces that have done so much to create ISIS.
Copyright © 2015 by RonPaul Institute.
See also
Syria crisis: US concern over Russia
'military build-up':
US media reports said Russia has sent advisers and hardware to
Syria, in what Washington fears is an expansion of its support
for President Bashar al-Assad.
US asks Greece to deny Russian flights to
Syria:
The United States has asked Greece to deny Russia the use of its
airspace for supply flights to Syria, a Greek official said on
Monday, after Washington told Moscow it was deeply concerned by
reports of a Russian military build up in Syria.
