Leaders of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria and Iran met to discuss issues of a common interest in the Middle East region and internationally. The meeting comes amid threats of military action against Iran by the United States., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
EDITORIAL Syria, McCain & Clinton
Published Mar 9, 2012 8:54 PM
Sometimes, to understand a world event, it helps to stand back. Sometimes it even helps to examine the event from the point of view of the enemies and oppressors of humanity.
That’s what we’re doing this week. We look from afar to see the contending forces in Syria.
For what is at stake in the struggle over Syria is not simply the fate of individuals in a neighborhood in Homs, nor simply of those who make up the government and ruling circles in Damascus, nor even of all the 23 million people living in that country. Syria as a country, the Syrian army and the Syrian state are central to an entire region, an oil-rich region that world imperialism has targeted for conquest. And that impacts the entire world.
In particular, the outcome in Syria will have a direct effect on two of Damascus’ allies in the region: Iran and the revolutionary Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. A more distant Syrian ally is Russia, which is able to land its ships in Syrian ports.
From the viewpoint of the main oppressors and exploiters of humanity -- of whom the most powerful are located on Wall Street, in Washington and in the Pentagon -- Iran, the Syrian regime and the Hezbollah movement are enemies and are on the list of those to be eliminated, simply because they refuse to submit to the rule of Western imperialism.
The U.S. tolerates no independent actors.
Thus both the Syrian and Iranian people face painful and punitive sanctions directed from Washington and seconded by its imperialist allies in Europe.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has labeled Syria’s President Bashir al-Assad a war criminal and demanded he step down. Since she is held responsible for U.S. policy, she avoided calling openly for military intervention. She is aware that there are diverse elements in the Syrian opposition and that nearly all Syrians oppose foreign intervention. She is aware that a premature and open U.S. military involvement might boomerang.
She knows NATO-ally Turkey already backs the so-called “Free Syrian Army” and the reactionary Gulf emirates, while Saudi Arabia arms them. She chooses to soft-pedal U.S. strategy and let the corporate media continue to poison the world against the Syrian government while the Pentagon prepares an attack.
In contrast, Sen. John McCain speaks frankly. This militarist bombed Vietnamese people himself in the 1960s. He continues to be an enthusiast of U.S. air power. He championed the “surge” in Iraq, with what results? He cheered on the bombing of Libya last year, he wants to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and on March 5 he demanded air strikes on Syria -- strikes that would cause tens of thousands of deaths.
The imperialist Democrat Clinton and the imperialist Republican McCain both want Syria smashed.
WW opposes both these prophets of plunder: No to imperialist war on Syria. No to sanctions. No to intervention by the U.S. and NATO, including Turkey and the reactionary Gulf states.
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