De volgende bespreking en recensies van het boek 'The Dirty War on Syria van Tim Anderson, vond ik op het blog van Stan van Houcke, hij nam het over van Global Research. Anderson schrijft in dit boek over de smerige machinaties van het westen, bij de illegale oorlog tegen Syrië. Want zo kan je de smerige oorlog die het westen, o.l.v. de VS tegen Syrië voert, gerust noemen.
The
Dirty War on Syria: Washington, Regime Change and Resistance
Global
Research, January 29, 2016
Image:
Professor
Tim Anderson, distinguished
author and senior lecturer of political economy at the University of
Sydney, Australia
Global
Research Publishers is launching Professor Tim Anderson’s timely
and important book on Syria.
Tim
Anderson has written the best systematic critique of western
fabrications justifying the war against the Assad government.
No
other text brings together all the major accusations and their
effective refutation.
This
text is essential reading for all peace and justice activists.
-James
Petras,
Author
and Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton
University, New York, Research Associate of the Centre for Research
on Globalization.
Tim
Anderson’s important new book, titled “The Dirty War on Syria”
discusses US naked aggression – “rely(ing) on a level of mass
disinformation not seen in living memory,” he explains.
ISIS
is the pretext for endless war without mercy, Assad the target,
regime change the objective, wanting pro-Western puppet governance
replacing Syrian sovereign independence.
There’s
nothing civil about war in Syria, raped by US imperialism, partnered
with rogue allies. Anderson’s book is essential reading to
understand what’s going on. -Stephen
Lendman, Distinguished
Author and Research Associate of the Centre for Research on
Globalization (CRG), Host of the Progressive Radio News Hour on the
Progressive Radio Network.
Professor
Anderson demonstrates unequivocally through carefully documented
research that America’s “Moderate Opposition” are bona fide Al
Qaeda affiliated terrorists created and protected by the US and its
allies, recruited and trained by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, in
liaison with Washington and Brussels.
Through
careful analysis, professor Anderson reveals the “unspoken truth”:
the “war on terrorism” is fake, the United States is a “State
sponsor of terrorism” involved in a criminal undertaking. Michel
Chossudovsky,
Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization, Professor of
Economics (Emeritus), University of Ottawa.
Excerpts
from the Preface of Professor Anderson’s book
Although
every war makes ample use of lies and deception, the dirty war on
Syria has relied on a level of mass disinformation not seen in living
memory. The British-Australian journalist Philip Knightley pointed
out that war propaganda typically involves ‘a depressingly
predictable pattern’ of demonising the enemy leader, then
demonising the enemy people through atrocity stories, real or
imagined (Knightley 2001). Accordingly, a mild-mannered eye doctor
called Bashar al Assad became the “new evil” in the world and,
according to consistent western media reports, the Syrian Army did
nothing but kill civilians for more than four years. To this day,
many imagine the Syrian conflict is a ‘civil war’, a ‘popular
revolt’ or some sort of internal sectarian conflict. These myths
are, in many respects, a substantial achievement for the big powers
which have driven a series of ‘regime change’ operations in the
Middle East region, all on false pretexts, over the past fifteen
years.
This
book is a careful academic work, but also a strong defence of the
right of the Syrian people to determine their own society and
political system. That position is consistent with international law
and human rights principles, but may irritate western sensibilities,
accustomed as we are to an assumed prerogative to intervene. At times
I have to be blunt, to cut through the double-speak. In Syria the big
powers have sought to hide their hand, using proxy armies while
demonising the Syrian Government and Army, accusing them of constant
atrocities; then pretending to rescue the Syrian people from their
own government. Far fewer western people opposed the war on Syria
than opposed the invasion of Iraq, because they were deceived about
its true nature.
In
2011 I had only a basic understanding of Syria and its history.
However, I was deeply suspicious when reading of the violence that
erupted in the southern border town of Daraa. I knew that such
violence (sniping at police and civilians, the use of semi-automatic
weapons) does not spring spontaneously from street demonstrations.
And I was deeply suspicious of the big powers. All my life I had been
told lies about the pretexts for war. I decided to research the
Syrian conflict, reading hundreds of books and articles, watching
many videos and speaking to as many Syrians as I could. I wrote
dozens of articles and visited Syria twice, during the conflict. This
book is a result of that research.
I
would go so far as to say that, in waging the Dirty War on Syria,
western culture in general abandoned its better traditions: of
reason, the maintenance of ethical principle and the search for
independent evidence at times of conflict; in favour of its worst
traditions: the ‘imperial prerogative’ for intervention, backed
by deep racial prejudice and poor reflection on the histories of
their own cultures. That weakness was reinforced by a ferocious
campaign of war propaganda. After the demonisation of Syrian leader
Bashar al Assad began, a virtual information blockade was constructed
against anything which might undermine the wartime storyline. Very
few sensible western perspectives on Syria emerged after 2011, as
critical voices were effectively blacklisted.
In
that context I came to write this book. It is a defence of Syria.
This is a resource book and a contribution to the history of the
Syrian conflict. The western stories have become self-indulgent and I
believe it is wasteful to indulge them too much. Best, I think, to
speak of current events as they are, then address the smokescreens
later. I do not ignore the western myths, in fact this book documents
many of them. But I lead with the reality of the war.
Chapter
Overview:
Chapter
1, ‘Syria and Washington’s ‘New Middle East’’ puts
Syria in context of the US plans for a ‘New Middle East’, the
latest chapter in a longer history of US attempts to dominate the
region.
Chapter
2, ‘Barrel Bombs, Partisan Sources and War Propaganda’ addresses
the problem of reporting and reading the Syrian crisis. Media
channels have shown a hyperreliance on partisan sources, committed to
the war and denigrating the Syrian Army. This is the key barrier to
understanding the controversies around chemical weapons, civilian
massacres and the levels of support for or opposition to President
Assad.
Chapter
3, ‘Daraa 2011: Another Islamist Insurrection’ reconstructs,
from a range of sources, the Saudi-backed Islamist insurrection in
Daraa in March 2011. Those armed attacks were quite distinct from the
political reform rallies, which the Islamists soon drove off the
streets.
Chapter
4, ‘Bashar al Assad and Political Reform’ explains
the political reform movement from the time Bashar assumed the
presidency in the year 2000 to the beginning of the crisis in 2011.
From this we can see that most opposition groups were committed to
reform within a Syrian context, with virtually all opposing attacks
on the Syrian state. The chapter then reviews the role of Bashar as a
reformer, and the evidence on his popularity.
Chapter
5, ‘The Empire’s Jihadis’ looks
at the collaboration between Salafist political Islam and the
imperial powers in the Middle East. Distinct from the anti-imperial
Islamic currents in Iran and south Lebanon, Salafist political Islam
has become a sectarian force competing with Arab nationalism across
Egypt, Palestine and Syria, and drawing on long standing
collaborative relations with the big powers. This history provides
important background to the character of Syria’s Islamist
‘revolution’, and its various slogans.
Chapter
6, ‘Embedded Media, Embedded Watchdogs’ identifies
the propaganda techniques of media channels and the network of ‘human
rights’ bodies (Human Rights Watch, Avaaz, etc) which function as
megaphones and ‘moderators’ for the Washington agenda. Many have
become fierce advocates for ‘humanitarian war’. A number of newer
western NGOs (e.g. The Syria Campaign, The White Helmets) have been
created by Wall Street agencies specifically for the dirty war on
Syria. A number of their fabrications are documented here.
Chapter
7, ‘The Houla Massacre Revisited’ considers
in detail the evidence from the first major massacre designed
(following success of the technique over Libya) to influence UN
Security Council consideration of military intervention. While the
first UN inquiry group, actually in Syria, found contradictory
evidence on this massacre, a second UN group outside Syria and
co-chaired by a US diplomat, tried to blame the Syrian Government.
Yet more than a dozen witnesses blamed Farouq FSA Islamists, who
killed pro-government villagers and took over the area, holding it
for some months. Several other ‘false flag’ massacres are noted.
Chapter
8, ‘Chemical Fabrications: the East Ghouta Incident’ details
the second major ‘false flag’ incident of international
significance. This incident in August 2013, which nearly sparked a
major escalation involving US missile attacks on Syria, was used to
accuse the Syrian Government of killing hundreds of civilians,
including children, with chemical weapons. Within a fairly short time
multiple sources of independent evidence (including North American
evidence) disproved these accusations. Nevertheless, Syria’s
opponents have repeated the false accusations, to this day, as though
they were fact.
Chapter
9 , ‘A Responsibility to Protect and the Double Game’ addresses
a recent political doctrine, a subset of ‘humanitarian
intervention’ popularised to add to the imperial toolkit. The
application of this doctrine in Libya was disastrous for that little
country. Fortunately the attempts to use it in Syria failed.
Al
Kindi hospital (Aleppo) as it was being demolished by two truck
bombs, December 2013. The operation was carried out by Jabhat
al Nusra (see logo top right) and its FSA partners. Afterwards
the Islamist-linked ‘Physicians for Human Rights’ tried to
blame the Syrian Government for this destruction. Photo: Jabhat al
Nusra
Chapter
10, ‘Health and Sanctions’ documents
the NATO-backed Islamist attacks on Syria’s health system, linked
to the impact of western economic sanctions. These twin currents have
caused great damage to Syrian public health. Such attacks carry no
plausible motive of seeking local popular support, so we must
interpret them as part of an overall strategy to degrade the Syrian
state, rendering it more vulnerable to outside intervention.
Chapter
11 ‘Washington, Terrorism and ISIS: the evidence’,
documents the links between the big powers and the latest peak
terrorist group they claim to be fighting. Only evidence can help
develop informed opinion on this contentious matter, but the evidence
is overwhelming. There is little ideological difference between the
various Salafi-Islamist groups, and Washington and its allies have
financed and armed every one of them.
Chapter
12, ‘Western Intervention and the Colonial Mind’ discusses
the western cultural mindset that underlies persistent violations of
the rights of other peoples.
Chapter
13 ‘Towards an Independent Middle East’,
considers the end-game in the Syrian crisis, and its implications for
the Middle East region. At tremendous cost the Syrian Arab Republic,
its army and its people, have successfully resisted aggression from a
variety of powerful enemies. Syria’s survival is due to its
resilience and internal unity, bolstered by support from some strong
allies. The introduction of Russian air power in late September 2015
was important. So too were the coordinated ground forces from Iran,
Iraq and Lebanon, in support of an independent Syria.
When
the attacks on Syria abate the Middle East seems set to be
transformed, with greater political will and military preparedness on
the part of an expanded Axis of Resistance. That will signal the
beginning of the end for Washington’s 15 year spree of bloodshed
and ‘regime change’ across the entire region.
The
original source of this article is Global Research
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Willem Wachtmeester
ESET Nederland
