This is a cross-post by Marc Goldberg
The West did a really good job of watching the Spanish Civil War from the sidelines while making absolutely sure that those fighting for freedom couldn’t get their hands on any weapons. In Hungary in 1956 the people rose up and threw off the shackles of communist dictatorial rule and embraced freedom and from their border the Americans watched and made nice noises right up until the point that a Soviet army rode into Hungary at which point they stopped making nice noises and said absolutely nothing at all.
On the other hand the USA did a bang up job of invading Iraq twice for oil and invading Afghanistan to kill Osama Bin Laden only to get him 10 years later in a different country. A country which by some monumentally stupid policy the USA supplies with the most advanced weapons known to man while standing back and allowing them to imprison the man that enabled them to kill the greatest enemy they have ever known. Not to mention watching them fund and train the same people who are killing their warriors just over the border.
US Marines were blown up en masse in Beirut, the USA did a bang up job of running away and doing absolutely nothing in response to their deaths. Well not nothing they did fire the lone CIA agent they sent to Beirut to investigate the bombing for the unforgivable crime of finding out who did it.
Growing up, it always seemed to me that the United States was the place, perhaps the only place in the whole world, that stood up for freedom. It seemed to me that the Americans were the guys who were going to stand up for those who didn’t have a voice, for those who couldn’t speak for themselves. I was wrong. The United States talks about exporting freedom but instead exports computers, cars and movies. When it comes to propping up a South American or Arab dictator the USA does a bang up job but when it comes to helping out people who are fighting for the very values enshrined by the US constitution and taken for granted by the citizens of that great country the Americans are nowhere to be found.
Such as in Syria.
Now I know that it’s not going to be easy to bring democracy to Syria, I really do but I don’t care. This is supposed to be what the USA is all about, this is supposed to be the one issue above all others that motivates the USA to intervene in a foreign war, this is supposed to be the single most important human endeavor, the most important human right that anyone in the entire world can fight for. So why is it that the bastion of freedom in the world, which is by no coincidence at all the single most powerful country in the world, feels the need to sit back and watch those who are fighting for their freedom die in abject failure while the forces of darkness take over the country that could be the single most important place in the world.
The stakes in Syria are huge; were Syria to become a secular democratic country the Middle East would change entirely. The land bridge between Hezbollah and Iran would disappear, the millions of refugees who have fled to neighboring Lebanon and Jordan would be able to return without fear rather than remaining where they are and destabilizing them by their mere presence, by being mouths to feed and people to take care of.
It’s too damn easy for the great democracies to stand by and utter nice sounding words while throwing meaningless gifts to a rebellion that they should be both influencing, backing and training, hell they should be screaming from the rooftops that freedom shall reign in Syria when this civil war that has killed 80,000 people and counting is done!
Instead the United States is watching Qatar and Saudi Arabia send millions of dollars and lethal weapons to people who make Al Qaeda look like a friendly bunch of guys to hang out with. The US contents itself with providing a bunch of Special Forces folks to train the occasional Free Syrian Army ‘soldier’ in Jordan and lets not forget the non-lethal equipment they’re sending, which at the same time as being a very nice gesture it’s also completely f*cking useless if you want to kill soldiers from the regime that has been murdering and torturing your family and friends for as long as you’ve been alive.
It’s no wonder that the Russians have sent a flotilla of warships into the Mediterranean and S-300 anti aircraft missiles into Syria, they certainly have nothing to fear from the only country in the world that could stop them. Just out of interest am I the only one who noticed that both a fleet of warships and advanced anti-aircraft missiles are absolutely useless to Assad and his forces in their fight against an insurrection that possesses neither an Air Force nor a Navy. That those anti aircraft missiles pose a threat only to an Air Force that might attempt to violate Syrian airspace and the warships might well send a message to a country nearby that is considering military action.
Cheers America, your inaction has brought Russia right into Israel’s face.
Perhaps it’s time that the USA got involved in a conflict not because there was economic gain, nor because America herself had been attacked, but because to get involved in this conflict is the right thing to do.
America are you listening?
