TRAGIC FLAW: :We Go To War Repeatedly WITHOUT Serious Efforts To Resolve Conflicts Peacefully"

[kpete]

Syria and the Tragic Flaw in American Foreign Policy
by RICH RUBENSTEIN

Peace is not an impossible dream, if all parties concerned determine that serious peace talks must be attempted before any new attacks on the Syrian regime are launched. We can still remedy the tragic flaw in American foreign policy by insisting that peace is the means as well as the end, and that no military action can ever be considered a last resort without going all out for conflict resolution.

"Once again, with the United States on the brink of war with Syria, we are arguing about the wrong issues. The problem is not that these issues are irrelevant or unimportant, but rather that they leave out something absolutely essential: the continuing urgent need for a peaceful and just resolution of the Syrian Civil War. We know that a U.S. military strike against Syria cannot be justified unless it is a last resort. The tragic flaw in American foreign policy is that we go to war repeatedly without having made serious efforts to resolve conflicts peacefully."

.........................

Who used chemical weapons? The administration maintains that Syria’s Assad regime launched rockets containing poison gas against civilians in the suburbs of Damascus, killing several hundred people (Obama spokespeople claim more than 1400 deaths). Skeptical critics maintain that the case against Syria is not convincing and that anti-Assad rebels may have used these weapons themselves, as they seem to have done in March, in an attempt to provoke the Americans and French to attack the regime directly. The U.S. intelligence information summarized for Congress has been classified so that nobody (including Congressional reps) knows exactly what it says.

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Read the whole thing.
http://www.rich-rubenstein.com/2013/09/syria-and-the-tragic-flaw-in-american-foreign-policy/



EXACTLY:

French and Israeli intelligence assessments back the U.S., as does reportedly Germany's spy agency, on its conclusion the Syrian regime was responsible. However, none have backed those claims with publicly presented evidence.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=220250873

[blm]

1. Why do so many claim there have been no diplomatic efforts?

Perhaps because the media is having fun pushing the idea that Obama is acting with Syria exactly as Bush did with Iraq.

95% of the corporate media fell in line unquestioningly behind Iraq war and would NEVER take the potshots at Bush, Cheney and Powell that they so freely do against Obama, Biden and Kerry who actually DID perform the diplomatic efforts long before deciding that use of military force to deter Assad was necessary.

Frankly - I think they NEEDED to press for military intervention openly in order to force Assad to come BACK to seeking diplomatic solutions.

[leftstreet]

8. Diplomacy = 'Raise your hand if you need more weapons'

Syria suffers because the US, Russia and China make a fortune selling weapons

[blm]

12. That's not what was happening with Kerry who focused on diplomacy with Assad

back in 2005 to prevent expansion of the war into Syria.

Kerry had built a relationship with Assad to bring him to the table to help forge a peace process for the region. Assad was amenable to that....then Arab Spring slowly changed the dynamic of the region for leaders like Assad.

There was NO ONE more focused on bringing Assad into the humane leader column than Kerry.

[leftstreet]

14. 'Arab Spring slowly changed the dynamic of the region'

Absolutely

Apparently Kerry et al couldn't/wouldn't change their diplomatic efforts to reflect that

[blm]

15. He did. You just refuse to factor in what ArabSpring did to Assad's mental state.

It deteriorated.

[Thinkingabout]

2. In a perfect world peace would be great, but we do not live in a perfect world. In a perfect world

we would not have people killed, we would not have children shot down, we would not have men, women and children gassed, but we live in a world where these events occur. Peace talks could be initiated by either side and would be better if both sides ask for those talks and enter into the talks with good results in mind, time will tell, who is willing to bend first.

[G_j]

3. exactly!! it is way past time for humans to evolve

we need a Department of Peace.

[pscot]

4. We have evolved by killing one another

It's what we do.

[G_j]

5. that's interesting

I have never killed anyone, does that mean I haven't evolved?

[pscot]

11. You have the full tool kit

All you lack is opportunity and incentive.

[bluestate10]

6. The USA has made repeated attempts to bring about a diplomatic solution via the UN.

Russia and China have blocked every single attempt. Where should the USA go to get a diplomatic solution? Where? The UN is not moving on diplomacy at all.

[scarletwoman]

7. The U.S. should go to Russia and Iran, and ask them to arrange talks with their ally, Assad.

The U.S. should stop funding and arming the "rebel" groups and start acting as a neutral party.

The U.S. hasn't been making "repeated attempts to bring about a diplomatic solution via the UN", the U.S. has been making repeated attempts at the UN to see Assad denounced and deposed. That's NOT diplomacy, that's just strong-arming.

Obama declared in 2011, in a meeting with Netanyahu, that "Assad must go." That's not diplomacy, that's belligerence.

[Nevernose]

9. And without the slightest consideration for blowback

Clinton's limited strikes in Bosnia led to BOTH sides accelerating their genocides. Clinton's limited strikes in Afghanistan led to the USS Cole and WTC bombings. Reagan struck Libya, Libya blew up a passenger jet in Lockerbie. Obama used the military to oust Gadaffi; the rebels in Libya began Enid cleansing of dark-skinned Libyans and immigrants.

If we attack Assad's war machine, it will probably encourage other nations to invest in more weapons, not less, because they'll feel the need to defend themselves against a unilateral, illegal, violence-prone superpower.

Finally, a hundred thousand Syrians have died, almost half killed by the opposition, and there was no national hue and cry for humanitarian bombings.

[Rex]

10. Iraq will be a hellhole. Afghanistan is still one.

We destabilized the power structure in Iraq and really I have no idea what we are doing in Afghanistan anymore. We never once tried to stop the opium drug warlords over the years (which would have made a huge impact in the heroin trade) guess some peoples drugs are okay and even worth guarding. Also, we don't seem to be crushing the Taliban beneath or feet. What was the objective again? Get OBL? Crush the Taliban?

[G_j]

13. reach out to Iran and Russia for help?

They are Syria's two main allies. I'm sure the admin. would they have reached out to them, but somehow I don't believe they are sincere. Form a council, have a summit, have private meetings. Talk.

Maybe something today's Jimmy Carter, or say, Nelson Mandela might do?
With humility and imagination, there are non-military approaches.

[Scuba]

16. Not much money in diplomacy. Lot of money in making war.