Wed May 04, 2016 9:26
Militarized War on Terror: Telling the Truth Is Not a Crime
TEHRAN (FNA)- The US war machine is on the move again, and it is bad news for the long-suffering people of Iraq and Syria.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter says the US is escalating the “war against ISIL” by sending yet more ground troops into both Iraq and Syria. Despite this, President Barack Obama continues to present his new war as something other than boots on the ground, which is pure fantasy. He knows better than anyone else that there is no military solution to “jihadism”, and that a military response on the part of Washington will surely escalate the conflict, with innocent civilians caught in the crossfire:
1- The War Party has over 5,000 ground troops in Iraq, with another 300 in neighboring Syria, inevitably in direct combat operations. Meantime, British defense officials plan to send “hundreds more” troops to Iraq and Syria, which is equally a terrible idea.
2- Because of the political chaos, US air forces have been operating under looser rules of engagement in Iraq and Syria since last fall. The war commander, Lt Gen McFarland, now orders airstrikes that always end up targeting civilians, while US officials acknowledge that airstrikes are killing more civilians under the new rules.
3- International Humanitarian Law strictly prohibits military attacks on civilians, civilian areas, and civilian infrastructure. At the very least, US airstrikes now are doing what they used to do when the War Party decided to invade Iraq in 2003: Killing civilians and destroying much of the civilian infrastructure that people depend on for their lives in already dire conditions.
4- Likewise, International Law says the presence of individual combatants among a great number of civilians does not alter the civilian nature of an area. To the Pentagon officials, though, the rule doesn’t apply. They continue to break the rules of war on a daily basis, including those meant to protect vital civilian infrastructure.
5- As the US escalates its airstrikes, official reports of hundreds of civilians killed daily reveal some of the human costs of the air war and the new rules of engagement. This has nothing to do with the ISIL war and everything to do with staying the course and occupying the region forever.
6- This is only the beginning of a wider campaign to affect regime change in Syria and retake Iraq. The regime changers have no intention to respect people in these two countries, including their ideas and values, their politics and culture, and their right to determine their own future.
Whatever it is, telling the truth is not a crime here. By all accounts, the War Party is making the situation worse. The new round of aggression and war crimes will only create more zones of chaos, reinforce the narratives of terrorist groups who see themselves as a bulwark against foreign aggression, unleash greater sectarian warfare, plunge the region into further chaos, and explode Wahhabi jihadism - from its original safe haven in Saudi Arabia - to countries across the globe.
It is important to understand that the current crises are rooted in the destruction of Iraqi and Syrian societies brought on by the US-led invasion, occupation, and regime-change fantasies. The US war machine’s decision to send in more arms and troops will only deepen the major social, ethnic, religious and political divisions in both Iraq and Syria. These two unfortunate nations need reconciliation and reconstruction, not re-intervention, and certainly not the rebooting of the "Militarized War on Terror."
1- The War Party has over 5,000 ground troops in Iraq, with another 300 in neighboring Syria, inevitably in direct combat operations. Meantime, British defense officials plan to send “hundreds more” troops to Iraq and Syria, which is equally a terrible idea.
2- Because of the political chaos, US air forces have been operating under looser rules of engagement in Iraq and Syria since last fall. The war commander, Lt Gen McFarland, now orders airstrikes that always end up targeting civilians, while US officials acknowledge that airstrikes are killing more civilians under the new rules.
3- International Humanitarian Law strictly prohibits military attacks on civilians, civilian areas, and civilian infrastructure. At the very least, US airstrikes now are doing what they used to do when the War Party decided to invade Iraq in 2003: Killing civilians and destroying much of the civilian infrastructure that people depend on for their lives in already dire conditions.
4- Likewise, International Law says the presence of individual combatants among a great number of civilians does not alter the civilian nature of an area. To the Pentagon officials, though, the rule doesn’t apply. They continue to break the rules of war on a daily basis, including those meant to protect vital civilian infrastructure.
5- As the US escalates its airstrikes, official reports of hundreds of civilians killed daily reveal some of the human costs of the air war and the new rules of engagement. This has nothing to do with the ISIL war and everything to do with staying the course and occupying the region forever.
6- This is only the beginning of a wider campaign to affect regime change in Syria and retake Iraq. The regime changers have no intention to respect people in these two countries, including their ideas and values, their politics and culture, and their right to determine their own future.
Whatever it is, telling the truth is not a crime here. By all accounts, the War Party is making the situation worse. The new round of aggression and war crimes will only create more zones of chaos, reinforce the narratives of terrorist groups who see themselves as a bulwark against foreign aggression, unleash greater sectarian warfare, plunge the region into further chaos, and explode Wahhabi jihadism - from its original safe haven in Saudi Arabia - to countries across the globe.
It is important to understand that the current crises are rooted in the destruction of Iraqi and Syrian societies brought on by the US-led invasion, occupation, and regime-change fantasies. The US war machine’s decision to send in more arms and troops will only deepen the major social, ethnic, religious and political divisions in both Iraq and Syria. These two unfortunate nations need reconciliation and reconstruction, not re-intervention, and certainly not the rebooting of the "Militarized War on Terror."
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