The Chaos Of The ''War On Terrorism'' Spread To Syria
08 November 2015By Jacob G.
Hornberger
It had to happen. It was always inevitable that the U.S. government's
much-vaunted ''war on terrorism'' would devolve into absolute chaos,
especially by attracting authoritarian and totalitarian regimes into the
''war on terrorism'' maelstrom.
Ever since President George W. Bush declared his much-ballyhooed ''war on
terrorism,'' we have seen authoritarian and totalitarian regimes infringe on
or destroy the civil liberties of their citizenry, citing the ''war on
terrorism'' as their justification. Bashing down people's doors in
warrantless searches, arbitrary arrests, indefinite detention, torture,
assassination. The war on terrorism has become a dictator's best friend. Hey,
if the U.S. government is doing it, why not every other regime in the world,
including the dictatorial ones?
And now we have the grand spectacle of Russia intervening in the Syria civil
war, one of the deadly civil wars that the U.S. national-security state has
incited as part of its many regime-change operations ever since its inception
in the 1940s.
What is Russia's justification for establishing a military base and
initiating bombing campaigns within Syria? You guessed it! The ''war on
terrorism''!
Is it any wonder that President Obama and his cohorts are stymied and
dumbfounded by Russia's maneuver? What are they supposed to say — that Russia
doesn't have the authority to fight terrorism? That the U.S. government is
the world's sole international policeman that wields the power to ferret out
and kill ''terrorists''?
Obama and his interventionist acolytes within the mainstream press are
complaining that Russia isn't bombing ISIS and other targets within Syria
that the Pentagon is bombing. Instead, they lament, Russia is bombing targets
that are seeking the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — targets
that consist of rebels who the CIA has trained and supported, with the aim of
ousting Assad from power.
But wait a minute! Who says that the U.S. national-security establishment has
a monopoly on determining who exactly a ''terrorist'' is or a monopoly on
determining the best way to fight ''terrorism''?
In Syria, Russia maintains that people who are trying to violently oust the
government from power are the terrorists while Obama, the Pentagon, and the
CIA say that those people are ''freedom fighters'' (except for ISIS, who,
they maintain, are actually terrorists even though they too are trying to
oust Assad from power.)
Yet, if we shift our attention over to, say, Egypt, which is governed by one
of the most brutal and vicious military dictatorships in history, we see U.S.
officials taking a different perspective. In Egypt, U.S. officials take the
side of the military dictators by saying that the Egyptian citizens who are
trying to oust the dictatorship from power are the ''terrorists.''
That's, in fact, why U.S. officials continue to flood the Egyptian
dictatorship with weaponry and armaments, to help it maintain its dictatorial
hold on power, just as Russia is doing in Syria to help maintain the Syrian
dictatorship's hold on power.
The fact is that President Obama and the U.S. national-security establishment
lack any moral standing whatsoever to complain about Russia's intervention
into Syria.
Obviously, Russia's intervention into Syria magnifies the potential for
conflict between Russia and the United States, a conflict that could easily
spiral out of control. Is that a good thing for the American people? Clearly
not! Getting into a war with a nuclear power is never a good idea. But that's
the direction in which the U.S. national-security establishment is heading
our nation.
Obviously, the sanctions that Obama imposed on Russia, with the aim of having
Russian officials kowtow to the U.S. national-security state, have not
succeeded in achieving their end. Indeed, arguably the sanctions incited
Russia to intervene in Syria as a way to spite Obama and his sanctions
system.
What's happening in Syria is just one more manifestation of what the
national-security state and the philosophy of foreign empire and
interventionism are doing to our country (and to the world). Not only are
they leading our nation to bankruptcy, owing to the out-of-control federal
spending and borrowing to fund all this destructive nonsense, they are also
making the world ever more unsafe for the American people.
Look at Iraq. Look at Afghanistan. Look at Yemen, where Saudi Arabian forces
just bombed a wedding party, just as U.S. officials did repeatedly in
Afghanistan. Look at Ukraine, where the U.S.-supported coup and NATO's
movement toward Russia's borders incited the predictable Russian response in
Crimea and Ukraine.
Look at the massive refugee crisis in Europe. It is a direct consequence of
the U.S. military death machine's interventionist antics in Iraq, Libya,
Yemen, Syria, and Afghanistan.
Where are the Middle East paradises they promised with their interventions?
Where are the free societies they promised would accompany their invasions
and occupations? Where is the order and stability they assured us would
result from the massive death and destruction they have wreaked in the Middle
East and Afghanistan?
Everywhere you look, the old Cold War era national-security state leaves
nothing but death, destruction, suffering, impoverishment, enslavement,
tyranny, and bankruptcy.
How long are the American people going to permit this to go on? How bad do
things have to get before Americans say: Enough is enough — it's time to
dismantle the old Cold War era Pentagon, CIA, NSA, military-industrial
complex, and America's foreign empire of military bases and restore the
limited-government, constitutional republic that our American ancestors
intended for our nation, which would finally bring us the freedom, peace,
prosperity, and harmony for which we all yearn?
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom
Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in
economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the
University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He
also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught
law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become
director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has
advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the
country as well as on Fox News' Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and
he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano's show
Freedom Watch. View these interviews at LewRockwell.com and from Full
Context.
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