Syria: America's "Inherent Resolve" to Destroy Another Sovereign Nation

"We should expect conflicts in which adversaries, because of cultural affinities different from our own, will resort to forms and levels of violence shocking to our sensibilities." (Department of Defense, 1999, with thanks to William Blum.)

Photo: AP Photo

One quote has reverberated throughout the United States decades of decimations of the lands of others. Journalist Peter Arnett, reporting from Vietnam, in a piece published on 7 July 1968, quoted an American officer saying of the provincial capital Bến Tre: "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it." He was referring to the decision to bomb and shell the town no matter what the cost of civilian lives, in order to rout the Vietcong. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bến_Tre)

By Felicity Arbuthnot

From towns to entire nations

The US led "coalitions" of recent years have, it seems, moved on from destroying towns, now entire sovereign nations are laid to waste to free, liberate, and democratize them. The cemeteries and ruins of much of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya are recent silent witness to this munificence, with Syria set to be the latest centre of the eye of the storm.

ISIS/ISIL/IS has replaced the Vietcong and the "town" is where ever the liberating bombs, missiles, drone strikes blast homes and humanity across the entire country and of course in neighbouring Iraq which, on 17^th January 2016 will have been bombed in the name of protection and salvation for a quarter of a century.

In context, prior to the illegal invasion of 2003, from 1993 onwards, wrote John Pilger (7^thAugust 2000):

"The Royal Air Force, together with the US, bombs Iraq almost every day. Since December 1998, the Ministry of Defence has admitted dropping 780 tonnes of bombs on a country with which Britain is not at war. During the same period, the United States has conducted 24,000 combat missions over southern Iraq alone, mostly in populated areas. In one five-month period, forty one per cent of casualties were civilians: farmers, fishermen, shepherds, their children and their sheep - the circumstances of their killing were documented by the United Nations Security Sector", it was: "the longest such campaign since the Second World War."

The Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain in a breath taking lie, even by UK Ministers' standards told Parliament on 2nd May 2000: "As I have told the House on many occasions, we are not conducting a bombing campaign against Iraq . . ."

On 6th July 2000, commentator Jonathan Power pointed out that: "the Pentagon says more than 280,000 sorties have been flown in the near decade since no-flight zones were imposed on Saddam in the north and south of the country."

"L'Angleterre, ah, la perfide Angleterre" ("England, oh treacherous England") is attributed to an admonishment by the 17th century French Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704) in a sermon, or to Napoleon Bonaparte. Whoever, the intervening centuries have wrought little change ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfidious_Albion)

Turkey has now given permission for the US to use the country's Incirlik air base "after months of negotiations", according to the BBC. Since the US also used the base during the 1991 Iraq war and in 2001 at the start of the attack on Afghanistan, it has to be wondered what further horror is planned for Syria.

Within twenty four hours of the agreement Turkey enjoined in bombing Syria and has also bombed northern Iraq. There are unconfirmed reports of Turkish troops in Aleppo.

British pilots bombarding Syria in defiance of Parliament

In spite of the UK Parliament voting not to become militarily involved in Syria, it transpired last week that British Air Force pilots have anyway been bombarding Syria in defiance of Parliament. They simply swopped their uniforms and fighter jets for those of countries who were involved in the attacks.

Although the US has been terrorizing Iraq and Syria since 8th August 2014, they took until 15thof October to dream up another silly name for another mass slaughter and announced that "Operation Inherent Resolve" was: "officially designated as the name given to US military operations against ISIL in Iraq and Syria." The name is intended: "to reflect the unwavering resolve and deep commitment of the US and partner nations ... to eliminate ISIL ..." Heaven help the people of Syria and Iraq.

The US military is clearly not a superstitious body. 15th of October was not an auspicious day for Empire. On that day in 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette of France was condemned to death and executed the following day; Napoleon 1^st began his exile on St Helena.

In 1863, following his defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War, General Robert E Lee proffered his resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The population of Syria is just 22.85 million, it is being assaulted by the US, population 318.9 million, Turkey population 74.93 million, the UK with a population of 64.1 million, plus a few other less visible and enthusiastic members of the "coalition" -Jordan, Canada, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, though the UAE stopped flying in December reportedly after a dispute over the US not providing sufficient combat air rescue. By 6^th February the US had mounted nine hundred and forty six air strikes in Syria, with Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia completing just seventy nine. (News, websites.)

The number of weapons rained down on Syria between August 2014 and June 30^th 2015 is staggering. According to the US Department of Defence (http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2014/0814_iraq/docs/30_June_2015.pdf):

2014: August: 211 September: 760 October: 1,641 November: 1,407 December: unaccounted for Total: 5,886

2015: January: 2,308 February: 1,756 March: 1.600 April: 1,685 May: 2,010 June: 1,686 Total: 11,045

The Average cost, August 8th 2014 to June 18th 2015 is $9.2 million a day for the 315 killing days ( http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2014/0814_iraq/) To 22nd June this year "Targets Damaged or Destroyed" in Syria and Iraq include 98 tanks, 325 trucks, 472 staging areas (these are illustrated with a tent, so presumably could be displaced families mistaken for "terrorists") 2,045 buildings, 1,859 "fighting positions" (again, as Iraq, how many people gathered for a wedding, funeral, waiting for transport were designated "fighters" from the safety of 35,000 ft?) 154 oil infrastructures and "other targets" 2,702. Total 7,655.

Carnage ongoing

The carnage is ongoing. For instance on the 21^st July with ten airstrikes on Syria and fifteen on Iraq, on 24^th July eight on Syria and nineteen in Iraq and 25^th July, nine air strikes on Syria and twenty two on Iraq with drones also being used (http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=129351) The "assessments" of that destroyed is tragic and sometimes farcical. In Iraq "an ISIS excavator" for example, could it not just be some soul mending a road? Two "ISIS bridges" near mortally damaged Fallujah - Iraq is divided by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers - the great soaring engineering triumphs that are the country's bridges are the arteries of the nation's body. Now they are designated "ISIS bridges" and destroyed - again.

As Syria's President Assad said (26^th July) in an address to the nation: "The West calls it 'terrorism' when it hits them, and 'revolution, freedom, democracy and human rights' when it hits us.' "