Sep 03 2013
Obama Begins Major Propaganda Effort to Push War, Even as Gas Attack Investigations Remain Inconclusive
Calling the Syrian fatal gas attack in Ghouta last week, the “worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century,” and “an assault on human dignity,” President Obama in a statement on Friday said he has decided to take military action against the Syrian government.
He added that he has also decided to ask Congress to debate and vote on authorizing him to make a military strike and submitted a draft resolution to that end to both houses of Congress on Saturday. So far Senator John McCain, Obama’s first presidential election rival, has voiced support for the bill.
The president’s announcement came after Secretary of State John Kerry argued forcefully that the Bashar Al Assad regime had used sarin gas according to tests obtained by the US. On Sunday, as part of the administration’s push to convince representatives, several members of Congress got a secret intelligence briefing from the Obama administration.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syria’s strongest ally, hopes to send a delegation of Russian lawmakers to the US to sway members of Congress. And, Israel and the US are reported to have just conducted joint military exercises testing Israel’s anti-missile system, in response to an impending attack on Syria.
UN inspectors who were charged with investigating the attack have not yet published their report and could take up to two weeks to draw their conclusions. The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR has just announced that the number of Syrian refugees has now reached 2 million, up ten times from a year ago.
Meanwhile, reflecting majority public opinion, antiwar activists organized several demonstrations against war with Syria in a number of cities including here in Los Angeles in downtown’s Pershing Square.
GUEST: Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” and “Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America’s Warfare State;” Musa al-Gharbi is a research fellow with the Southwest Initiative for the Study of Middle East Conflicts. He recently wrote an essay in Counterpunch entitled Red Lines Drawn with Syrian Blood
Click here to read Norman Solomon’s article about Syria.
Click here to read Musa Al Gharbi’s article about Syria.
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