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newthinking

(3,982 posts)
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 03:32 AM Aug 2016

We Know About The Lies Over Iraq But What About Syria?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mark-curtis/syria-war-iraq-war_b_11625902.html

British wars abroad have two enemies. First, the official enemy, portrayed as a monster whom we always battle with noble intentions. But second is the enemy within - us, the public. The danger posed by the public is that we may stop elites doing what they want, hence we are subject to state ‘information operations’ to convey messages and obscure facts, usually via compliant media organisations. Current British policy in Syria, which is having the effect of prolonging the terrible war by supporting forces fighting the regime, involves outright lying by ministers at a level similar to that over Iraq in 2002-3.

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The British government is waging ‘information warfare’ by funding media operations for some Syrian rebel groups. The Ministry of Defence is hiring contractors to produce videos, photos, radio broadcasts and social media posts branded with the logos of rebel groups, to ‘effectively run a press office for opposition fighters’. Materials are being circulated in the Arabic broadcast media and posted online with no indication of British government involvement.

American journalist Seymour Hersh wrote about an arms ‘rat line’ authorised in early 2012 that funnelled weapons and ammunition from Libya via southern Turkey and across the Syrian border to the opposition. MI6 supported this operation while funding came from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to Hersh, who added that ‘many of those in Syria who ultimately received the weapons were jihadists, some of them affiliated with al-Qaida’.

Are any government statements on Syria believable? The government has consistently told Parliament it has no evidence that any UK air strikes in Syria or Iraq have resulted in civilian casualties. Yet Britain has conducted nearly 1,000 air strikes in these two countries since 2014 while the NGO, Airwars, estimates that there have been 1,568 civilian casualties from coalition bombing, mainly by the US, though it does not calculate how many of any of these are due to UK operations.
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Blue_Tires

(55,445 posts)
2. Hersh should be disavowed until he recants
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 12:13 PM
Aug 2016

his long-since-debunked Syria chemical weapons story, and his MH17 story...

Anybody citing his so-called "investigative reporting" isn't worth my time

 

That Guy 888

(1,214 posts)
3. Thanks for posting this
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 10:05 PM
Aug 2016

It seems like outside forces do not have a clear strategy for Syria. It's very troubling that many intelligence agencies in the area ( I read Pakistan also had similar difficulties) hadn't realized that the different jihadi and revolutionary groups in the region have some level of resource sharing. We might intend to arm anti-Assad forces, but daesh may end up with the weapons.

I found the last paragraph very interesting as well:

British policy in Syria, by stepping up support to opposition forces, is having the effect of prolonging the war while doing nothing to stop Assad’s constant brutal attacks on civilians. It strongly appears as if Britain wants neither side to win or lose - it cannot now afford for Assad’s Russian and Iranian backers to claim victory by keeping the regime in power, but neither does it want to see Islamic State and other jihadists, which dominate the opposition, take control of a post-Assad Syria. So Britain is playing with fire, seeing the people of region as it always has - as expendable unpeople in its geopolitical games

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
8. A fine mist of bullshit lingers in the air everywhere you go.
Sun Aug 28, 2016, 03:47 AM
Aug 2016

Somebody ought to explain about the law of diminishing returns sometime.

I would, but I don't want to wise them up.

yurbud

(39,405 posts)
9. the bullshit is diminishing in quality too. At least the Bushies tried to pretend Iraq was a direct
Sun Aug 28, 2016, 11:36 AM
Aug 2016

threat to us.

Now they are reduced to saying "ISIS bad!" even though our close allies like Saudi and Turkey support and do business with them.

--and I doubt those medium and small countries that rely on our protection and business to exist are "going rogue" rather than providing just enough middle men for plausible deniability.

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