Propaganda
for Syrian ‘Regime Change’
Neocons and liberal hawks have poured millions of
dollars into propaganda to justify “regime change”
in Syria and are now desperate to keep the war going
until President Hillary Clinton gets a chance to
escalate, as Rick Sterling describes.
By Rick Sterling
August 23, 2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- Neocons and Clintonites have launched a major
campaign with the goal of direct U.S. military
intervention and aggression against Syria,
potentially leading to war with Iran and Russia.
An early indication emerged as soon as it was clear
the Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic Party
nominee. Following the California primary, The New
York Times reported on State Department diplomats
issuing an internal memo “urging the United States
to carry out military strikes against the government
of President Bashar al Assad.”
In early
August, Dennis Ross and Andrew Tabler opined in The
New York Times about “The
Case for (Finally) Bombing Assad”. Dennis
Ross is a favorite Clintonite. In her book Hard
Choices, Clinton described how she asked Dennis
Ross to come to the State Department to “work on
Iran and regional issues.”
New York
Times regular Nicholas Kristof made his own
pitch for war against Syria. According to
the self-styled humanitarian, we need “safe zones”
as proposed by Clintonite Madeline Albright and
retired General James Cartwright. That is risky,
Kristof said, but “the risks of doing nothing in
Syria are even greater.”
PBS
broadcast
a story titled “Repeatedly
targeted by airstrikes, Syrian doctors feel
abandoned.” The story features video from
the “White Helmets” along with photos from the
reported April bombing of Al Quds Hospital.
Currently there is a huge media campaign around the
situation in Aleppo. Syrian American doctor Zaher
Sahloul, of the Syrian American Medical Society, has
been interviewed extensively on mainstream media as
well as DemocracyNow with widespread promotion in
Truthout and other sites.
There has
been lots of publicity around a
letter to President Obama, supposedly
written by 15 doctors in East Aleppo. The letter
ends “We need your action.” The flow and wording of
the letter suggests it may have been composed by a
marketing company and there has been no verification
of the doctors who supposedly signed it.
The letter
was likely written by a paid Syria War propagandist
or Washington lobby firm. Read the letter
here and judge for yourself. For contrast
watch
this interview with a real Syrian doctor
not mouthing propaganda from K Street in Washington
D.C.
An online
Change petition asks German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and President Barack Obama to “save
the people of Aleppo.” The publicly funded Holocaust
Memorial Museum has
promoted the video #SaveSyria. One of the
producers of the video is The Syria Campaign which
is the marketing organization which branded the
pervasive “White Helmets,” as documented in
“Seven Steps of Highly Effective Manipulators”.
In parallel
with this media campaign, the House Foreign Affairs
Committee has introduced
HR5732 the “Caesar Syrian Civilian
Protection Act of 2016.” The resolution calls for
escalating economic/financial pressure on Syria and
“Assessment of potential effectiveness of and
requirements for the establishment of safe zones or
a no fly zone in Syria”.
Dr. Sahloul,
the Syrian American Medical Society doctor /
spokesperson, says that Obama’s legacy will be
defined by whether or not he attacks Syria to impose
a “no fly zone.” It seems unlikely that Obama would
do that at the end of his term. Instead, the goal is
to prepare the public for the new war to begin after
Hillary Clinton becomes President.
Falsehoods and Lies of Omission
In his
article ““The media are misleading the public on
Syria” author Stephen Kinzer recently wrote,
“Coverage of the Syrian war will be remembered as
one of the most shameful episodes in the history of
the American press. Reporting about carnage in the
ancient city of Aleppo is the latest reason why.”
Here a few
facts about Aleppo which contradict the mainstream
media narrative:
–At least
85 percent of Aleppo’s population is in
government-controlled areas.
–The
estimate of 300,000 civilians in
rebel/terrorist-controlled east Aleppo is likely a
gross exaggeration. In spring 2015, Martin Chulov of
the Guardian visited the area and
estimated there were 40,000.
–While
there are very few doctors serving in the
opposition-controlled Aleppo, there are thousands of
doctors working in the government-controlled area.
–The
dominant rebel-terrorist group in Aleppo is the
Syrian version of Al Qaeda.
–The armed
groups who invaded Aleppo have been unpopular from
the beginning. In the fall of 2012, journalist James
Foley
wrote: “Aleppo, a city of about 3 million
people, was once the financial heart of Syria. As it
continues to deteriorate, many civilians here are
losing patience with the increasingly violent and
unrecognizable opposition — one that is hampered by
infighting and a lack of structure, and deeply
infiltrated by both foreign fighters and terrorist
groups.” (Foley was later captured by Syrian rebels
and executed by the Islamic State on Aug. 19, 2014.)
–The
rebel-terrorists launch dozens and sometimes
hundreds of mortars daily into the
government-controlled areas causing huge casualties.
Western media ignores this destruction and loss of
life.
–The much
publicized April bombing of the supposed Medecins
sans Frontieres-supported “Al Quds Hospital” in
Aleppo was full of contradictions and discrepancies.
These were highlighted in an
Open Letter
to MSF. To this date, MSF has not provided
corroborating information.
–Much of
the video purporting to show bombing effects in
Aleppo are stamped with the “White Helmets” logo.
White Helmets is a creation of the U.S. and U.K. and
primarily a
propaganda tool. The claims they are
Syrian, independent and non-partisan are all false.
–Much of
the information about Syria comes from “activists”
trained and paid by the U.S. In her book Hard
Choices, Secretary Clinton says the U.S.
provided “training for more than a thousand (Syrian)
activists, students, and independent journalists”
(p464, hardback version). Obviously they are not
independent and their reports should be carefully
checked.
–In
contrast with the ambiguous situation at “Al Quds
Hospital”, consider what happened to Aleppo’s “Al
Kindi Hospital.” Take three minutes to view the
suicide bombing of Al Kindi Hospital.
Take two minutes to view
what the “rebels” did to Syrian soldiers
who had been guarding the hospital.
–Like NBC
correspondent Richard Engels’s fake kidnapping and
the contrived CNN reports by “Syrian Danny,” the
Aug. 21, 2013 chemical attack in Ghouta has been
essentially shown to have been a staged event
intended to force a U.S. attack on the Syrian
government by making it appear that President Bashar
al-Assad had crossed President Obama’s “red line.”
–The latest
propaganda tool being used to promote U.S.
aggression against Syria is the photograph of little
Omran in the orange ambulance seat. The video comes
from the Aleppo Media Center, or AMC. Like the White
Helmets, AMC is a
U.S. creation.
The photo
of Omran has been widely accepted without scrutiny.
The insightful
Moon of Alabama has raised serious
questions about the media sensation. Brad Hoff has
documented that the main photographer,
Mahmoud Raslan, is an ally of the Nour al Din al
Zenki rebel terrorists who
beheaded a young Palestinian Syrian a few
weeks ago, confirmed step by step in this
short video. Another good short video
exposing the propaganda around #Syrianboy is
here.
Why
the Burst of Propaganda?
The Syrian
crisis is at a critical point with the prospect that
the rebel/terrorists will collapse. If they are
crushed or expelled, it would allow hundreds of
thousands of displaced Aleppans to return home as
soon as services are restored. This would also allow
the Syrian army and allies to focus on attacking the
Islamic State in the east and rebel/terrorist groups
remaining in Idlib, Hama, the outskirts of Damascus
and the south.
Until the
last year, fanatics and mercenaries were traveling
from all parts of the globe into Syria via Turkey.
Tens of
thousands went to Syria from Southeast
Asia, China, Russia, North Africa, Europe and North
America. They were given carte blanche to depart
their home countries, arrive in Turkey and be guided
into Syria.
For
example, young Canadians such as
Damien Clairmont went and died in Syria.
His mother has courageously
exposed the fact that Canadian Security
Intelligence Services (CSIS) knew about his plans
yet did nothing to stop him.
Progressive Muslim
leaders demanded the government identify and start
dealing with the radical recruiters. It was
evidently the policy of the cynically named “Friends
of Syria” to “look the other way” as their citizens
were being brainwashed and then recruited to become
terrorists attacking Syria.
Now, with
terrorist blowback in Western Europe, the United
States and Turkey, these same “Friends” are feeling
consequences from their policies. Terror attacks in
Britain, France, Belgium and the U.S. have ended –
or at least disrupted – the policy of collusion with
Wahhabi terrorists.
In the last
year, security services have started arresting
recruiters and new recruits. In Britain, a long-time
promoter of ISIS has been
convicted. In Belgium, the court has
approved the
extradition of a suspected French
terrorist. Previously, Belgium was the Western
country with the highest per capita number of
citizens joining the terrorist fight in Syria. And
now Turkey has started
arresting people en route to join ISIS in
Syria.
Since the
rebel/terrorists invaded Aleppo in 2012, they have
had a constant pipeline bringing weapons, fighters
and supplies into the city. For the past few months
the Syrian army has been on the verge of encircling
and closing the access routes into rebel terrorist
sections of east Aleppo.
Western
media and governments, which support the
rebel/terrorists, are doing all they can to delay or
prevent this closure. They are trying to stall or
prevent a Syrian government victory until someone
more hawkish than Barack Obama is in the White
House.
Driving the Conflict
Regional
forces supporting the war on Syria include Israel,
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Israel has always
been deeply involved, contrary to the faulty
analysis of some observers. Israel has provided
medical and
military support to Nusra/Al Qaeda and
other terrorist groups operating near the Golan
Heights. Former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was
explicit:
“Israel has wanted Assad ousted since Syria war
began.” Oren has said Israel favors that
outcome even
if it means a victory by Al Qaeda or other Sunni
extremists.
The U.S.
and Western powers are also deeply involved. Working
with Saudi Arabia and through Turkey, the U.S. has
supplied huge quantities of weapons to the
rebel/terrorists. Sophisticated weaponry totaling
994 TONS was provided last winter as documented
here.
On the
other side, Iran and Hezbollah are committed to
defending the existing Syrian government. They know
that if the Syrian government falls, they will be
the next ones under attack.
Russia also
sees this as a crucial conflict. The U.S. has
expanded NATO up to the Russian western border,
promoted the 2014 Ukraine coup, and insisted on
economic sanctions against Russia. Syria is Russia’s
only Arab ally and hosts Russia’s only foreign naval
base. Russia probably sees this conflict as a
crucial for its own future. In another sign of
resistance to U.S. global hegemony, China has
indicated it wishes to
expand military cooperation with Syria.
Following
the U.S. lead, Canada, Australia and West European
countries have supported the “regime change” effort
despite it being in clear violation of the U.N.
Charter and international law.
Despite
five years of tragedy and destruction, the U.S.
continues trying to overthrow or destroy the Syrian
government. This is not a new U.S. objective. In
2005, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour
interviewed Syrian President Assad and
said to him “Mr. President, you know the rhetoric of
regime change is headed towards you from the United
States….They’re talking about isolating you
diplomatically and, perhaps, a coup d’etat or your
regime crumbling. What are you thinking about that?”
Amanpour is
not only a CNN host, she is the wife of neocon
Clintonite
James Rubin.
In 2010,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
pressed Syria to stop its support of the
Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, “loosen” its
alliance with Iran and sign a treaty with Israel.
Significantly, these are Israel’s demands and of
much higher importance to the Zionist state than the
U.S.
The war in
Syria is bringing numerous conflicts to a head:
sectarian Wahhabism vs. humanitarian Islam; the “New
American Century” with one superpower vs. a
multilateral world; Zionist dominance and occupation
vs. Lebanese and Palestinian resistance.
Hillary
Clinton is on record criticizing the decision to not
bomb Syria in late summer 2013 after the sarin gas
attack outside Damascus. She has continued to
promote the idea of a “no fly zone.” She is an
avowed Zionist who has said she wants to take the
U.S.-Israeli relationship to the “next level.”
Zionist
Israel is deeply worried by the prospect of a
strengthened Syria and Lebanese resistance. In
addition, there are many Palestinian refugees and
their descendants in Syria and Lebanon. They retain
their wish to return home in keeping with
international law. Just as Zionist Israeli interests
were a major factor in the invasion of Iraq, so they
are in continuing the conflict in Syria. In
addition, neocons have not given up their goal of a
“New American Century.”
The
Western Left?
The Left
has been weak in responding and opposing the
aggression against Syria. Major factors have
included:
–Saudi and
U.S. State Department-funded Muslim groups which
support the aggression against Syria. This includes
the recently famous Dr. Zaher Sahloul and the Syrian
American Medical Society. SAMS and Zahloul are
aligned with Saudi Arabia and receive
substantial State Department funding.
–Deluded
leftist groups which support what they have been
told is a people’s “revolution” in Syria, just as
happened in Libya.
–The
flooding of social media and the Internet by
“activists” and Syrian “civil society” groups who
are actually paid and trained agents of the West.
This is confirmed by Clinton herself in her book
Hard Choices.
–Uncritical
acceptance of the claims by major non-governmental
organizations (or NGOs), which are predominately
funded by billionaires. These organizations need to
be viewed with some skepticism because of their
financial dependence on a few wealthy individuals
with personal agendas.
For
example, in 1990, Amnesty International mistakenly
corroborated the accuracy of the false
claim that Iraqi soldiers were stealing incubators
from Kuwait, leaving babies to die on the cold
floor.
In the
run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Human Rights
Watch, which is heavily funded by currency
speculator George Soros, did not oppose the Iraq
invasion and implicitly accepted it by only
criticizing the lack of preparation. (HRW also
promoted what turned out to
a bogus story claiming that by
“vectoring” the flight paths of two rockets it had
proved that the Syrian military fired the sarin gas
on Aug. 21, 2013, a claim that later collapsed when
aeronautical experts determined that the only rocket
found to carry sarin had a much shorter range.)
Physicians
for Human Rights, another Soros project, has issued
grossly
misleading reports on Syria.
–Alternative media, which is progressive on many
issues but echoes NPR and mainstream media on
critical foreign policy issues including the Syrian
conflict.
Some groups
including Arab Americans for Syria, Syrian American
Forum, Black Agenda Report, Syria Solidarity
Movement, Answer and Workers World Party have
actively challenged the disinformation but their
budgets and influence are relatively small in
comparison to the heavily funded organizations
pushing for Syrian “regime change.”
Veterans
for Peace, one of the most influential and respected
peace organizations, has recently sharpened its
understanding and position on Syria. Following a
recent visit to Syria, the Vice President of
Veterans for Peace, Jerry Condon,
said, “Everything we read about
Syria in the U.S. media is wrong. The reality is
that the U.S. government is supporting armed
extremist groups who are terrorizing the Syrian
people and trying to destroy Syria’s secular state.
“In
order to hide that ugly reality and push violent
regime change, the U.S. is conducting a
psychological warfare campaign to demonize Syria’s
president, Bashar al Assad. This is a classic tactic
that veterans have seen over and over. It is
shocking, however, to realize how willingly the
media repeat this propaganda, and how many people
believe it to be true.”
What the Future Holds
Neoconservatives, including Clintonites, are pushing
hard for a direct U.S. attack on Syria to prevent
the collapse of their “regime change” project.
Claiming that the U.S. and NATO can bring a “safe
zone” and “protect civilians” is a grotesque
falsehood. (In Libya in 2011, similar “humanitarian”
claims were simply a cover for another “regime
change” project that has unleashed more chaos and
death across northern Africa.)
If the U.S.
tries to impose a “no fly zone” in Syria, it will
result in vastly more deaths and risk escalation
into direct conflict involving Syria, Russia, Iran
and Israel.
Former Acting CIA director Mike
Morell, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for
President, recently suggested the killing of
Russians and Iranians in Syria to make them
“pay a price.”
There is a
clear solution to the Syrian tragedy: the countries
who have been supplying tons of weapons and paying
tens of thousands of mercenary terrorists should
stop. The conflict would soon end. The foreigners
would depart with much less fanaticism than what
they came with. Many Syrian rebel/terrorists would
accept reconciliation.
To create
the circumstances for a peaceful settlement, there
needs to be a global campaign for peace, but there
is much responsibility in the U.S. since our
government has become the greatest threat to peace
with its insistence on global dominance. Following
are some specific ideas that could help:
–Sen.
Bernie Sanders raised expectations when he talked
about the need stop the “regime change” foreign
policy. Now is when he needs to be clear and
unequivocal that U.S. military aggression against
Syria will make things worse not better and must not
happen. Sanders also proved that a progressive
policy is popular. If Sanders abandons this core
foreign policy position and does not speak out
strongly against the drive for aggression, it will
be a huge disappointment and failure.
–DemocracyNow
and other leading alternative media need to start
including different analyses. To a sad extent, their
coverage of Syria has echoed NPR and CNN. If
DemocracyNow is truly an “Exception to the Rulers,”
it needs to start including more critical
examinations.
DN
producers should be studying publications such as
Consortiumnews, Global Research, AntiWar,
MoonOfAlabama, Al Masdar News, Al Mayadeen,
Counterpunch, DissidentVoice, American Herald
Tribune, 21stCenturyWire, Black Agenda Report, the
Canary, RT, PressTV and TruePublica (not corporate
ProPublica).
They should
be bringing the observations and analysis of
journalists such as Sharmine Narwani, Edward Dark,
Eva Bartlett, Brad Hoff, Vanessa Beeley, Stephen
Sahiounie to name just a few. Syrian academics such
as Issa Chaer (U.K.) and Nour al Kadri (Canada)
could be interviewed. Followers of DN have heard
Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and other U.S.
officials speaking about Syria countless times. Why
have Amy and Juan not interviewed the Syrian
Ambassador to the UN?
–This is an
opportunity and challenge for Jill Stein and Ajamu
Baraka of the Green Party. They are clear on this
issue. If they can get a mass audience to hear their
message, it could be crucial to their winning
support and prompting a necessary national debate.
At the
moment there is almost no debate on the issue of
perpetual war in the Middle East. Instead, the media
is filled with propaganda using a boy’s photo to
promote more war. The Green Party could play a
hugely important role exposing the danger and
duplicity of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They
could play a key role in blocking the Clintonite
march to a new war.
–Veterans
for Peace could play a leading role in changing the
perception and ending the marginalization of the
U.S. peace movement.
Rick Sterling
is an investigative journalist and member of Syria
Solidarity Movement. He can be contacted at
rsterling1@gmail.com
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