‘All for one and one for all’ should be the battle cry if the West goes to war against Assad’s Syrian regime

by Robert Fisk | 27 Aug 2013

If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured – for the very first time in history – that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qa’ida.

Quite an alliance! Was it not the Three Musketeers who shouted “All for one and one for all” each time they sought combat? This really should be the new battle cry if – or when – the statesmen of the Western world go to war against Bashar al-Assad.

The men who destroyed so many thousands on 9/11 will then be fighting alongside the very nation whose innocents they so cruelly murdered almost exactly 12 years ago. Quite an achievement for Obama, Cameron, Hollande and the rest of the miniature warlords.

This, of course, will not be trumpeted by the Pentagon or the White House – nor, I suppose, by al-Qa’ida – though they are both trying to destroy Bashar. So are the Nusra front, one of al-Qa’ida’s affiliates. But it does raise some interesting possibilities.

Maybe the Americans should ask al-Qa’ida for intelligence help – after all, this is the group with “boots on the ground”, something the Americans have no interest in doing. And maybe al-Qa’ida could offer some target information facilities to the country which usually claims that the supporters of al-Qa’ida, rather than the Syrians, are the most wanted men in the world.

There will be some ironies, of course. While the Americans drone al-Qa’ida to death in Yemen and Pakistan – along, of course, with the usual flock of civilians – they will be giving them, with the help of Messrs Cameron, Hollande and the other Little General-politicians, material assistance in Syria by hitting al-Qa’ida’s enemies. Indeed, you can bet your bottom dollar that the one target the Americans will not strike in Syria will be al-Qa’ida or the Nusra front.

And our own Prime Minister will applaud whatever the Americans do, thus allying himself with al-Qa’ida, whose London bombings may have slipped his mind. Perhaps – since there is no institutional memory left among modern governments – Cameron has forgotten how similar are the sentiments being uttered by Obama and himself to those uttered by Bush and Blair a decade ago, the same bland assurances, uttered with such self-confidence but without quite enough evidence to make it stick.

In Iraq, we went to war on the basis of lies originally uttered by fakers and conmen. Now it’s war by YouTube. This doesn’t mean that the terrible images of the gassed and dying Syrian civilians are false. It does mean that any evidence to the contrary is going to have to be suppressed. For example, no-one is going to be interested in persistent reports in Beirut that three Hezbollah members – fighting alongside government troops in Damascus – were apparently struck down by the same gas on the same day, supposedly in tunnels. They are now said to be undergoing treatment in a Beirut hospital. So if Syrian government forces used gas, how come Hezbollah men might have been stricken too? Blowback?

And while we’re talking about institutional memory, hands up which of our jolly statesmen know what happened last time the Americans took on the Syrian government army? I bet they can’t remember. Well it happened in Lebanon when the US Air Force decided to bomb Syrian missiles in the Bekaa Valley on 4 December 1983. I recall this very well because I was here in Lebanon. An American A-6 fighter bomber was hit by a Syrian Strela missile – Russian made, naturally – and crash-landed in the Bekaa; its pilot, Mark Lange, was killed, its co-pilot, Robert Goodman, taken prisoner and freighted off to jail in Damascus. Jesse Jackson had to travel to Syria to get him back after almost a month amid many clichés about “ending the cycle of violence”. Another American plane – this time an A-7 – was also hit by Syrian fire but the pilot managed to eject over the Mediterranean where he was plucked from the water by a Lebanese fishing boat. His plane was also destroyed.

Sure, we are told that it will be a short strike on Syria, in and out, a couple of days. That’s what Obama likes to think. But think Iran. Think Hezbollah. I rather suspect – if Obama does go ahead – that this one will run and run.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comm...de-8786680.html

I told my co-workers today about Iran's threat, that I saw on Drudge during a break, that Israel will be the first victim if US bombs Syria. Then I told them this would probably start WWIII, only to learn later that Hannity said the same thing on his radio show today.

This is bad folks.

I also told my co-workers that, as far as I know, at this point, all that is known is that Syrian civilians were murdered by chemical warfare...but not by whom. I told them Obama and his administration is saying Assad did this. I told my co-workers, this doesn't make sense: prior to the chemical gas, Assad was gaining support by the king of Saudi Arabia, Israel's Netanyahu, as well as multiple other middle eastern countries. Why would Assad do this, risking condemnation from his supporters as well as others, including the US, Britain and the rest of Europe? Especially knowing that UN workers were even nearby at the time.

I said this rather has the marks of the rebels; rebels who once were sort of the 'good guys' getting rid of a bad guy (Assad); but now, terrorists have taken over being the 'rebel's and it is they who would gain from having the world 'believe' (truly or otherwise) that Assad gassed his own people.

One person I spoke to is a Republican, but doesn't engage too much in politics. The other is a democrat who supports Obama.

But, I planted seeds; the Obama supporter agreed with what I said Putin (who is warning the US against bombing Syria) is saying, the only thing known is that chemicals were used against Syrian civilians, but the evidence is lacking as to who/what group is responsible. And for this reason, the US should do nothing until there is evidence.

I've known from the get-go that Obama is the Manchurian Candidate in reality. If he does this and we in fact end up siding with Al-Quaeda and starting WW III, that will pretty much confirm his treasonous activities where there will be no doubt.

Agreed. This is bad. And, Mr. Ineptitude can make it even worse.