WE JUST CAN’T KEEP OUR PAWS OFF THE MIDDLE EAST!

WE JUST CAN’T KEEP OUR PAWS OFF THE MIDDLE EAST!

(U.S Global Leadership Project Report, Reuters, Yahoo News)

(Holly Fletcher, Reese Erlich, Albert AJi, U.S. Treasury Department)

(Washington Post, Liz Sly, Karen DeYoung, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Could we have it any other way, war in Afghanistan, still hot spots in Iraq, Egypt, and now Syria…..wait, does Syria have oil, if they do…..well than we’d be justified to haul (you know what, the military) to their borders and beyond, anything with petroleum products is always a freebie for the U.S. and we can always poke our noses into situations that in the long run, (Iraq and Afghanistan) doesn’t work out to well for us.

 

We now face a similar situation that we had in Iraq all the way back in the late 1980’s, you-all remember Saddam Hussein, his use of chemical weapons, his production, and the storage of this vile weaponry.  Innuendos about chemical weapons in Syria, like Iraq…..its Déjà vu all over again.

 

Hasn’t our government, and our military used the human rights, terrorists havens, weapons of mass destruction, chemical carnage and genocide excuses enough? Shouldn’t they at least come up with a new angle for seizing foreign resources, and protecting our way of life?

 

Like I’ve said before, “war mongering knows no political party, no ideological platform, and is driven by an insatiable thirst for power and other people’s stuff! Could you imagine a world without war…..I can’t, the country that I currently live in has either been involved in, or has been making war my entire life…..and I’m close to 70 years old.

 

Right now, in Syria, it seems as if the world is taking our lead, and that the existence of chemical weapons is a foregone conclusion, and that they have been used and caused the deaths of hundreds within the Syrian boarders. Naysayers talk about Bashar al Assad, his oppression of his people, and his seeming willingness to use whatever force is at hand.

 

MEN JUST CAN’T LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “the world needs more women in lead position” wars would probably be cut at least in half. And it sure wouldn’t be because women don’t have the stomach for military intervention. No way…..women must use a different part of their bodies for thinking, you know that lump between their shoulders, about three feet above their genitalia, which I’m convinced men use for most of their decision making!

 

U.S. military chiefs, Secretary of State, John F. Kerry, and our European and Middle Eastern allies have met, and are meeting, texting, faxing, tweeting, and using whatever other kind of communication equipment is available to…..(as they would say,) stay on top of the issue.

 

But what military and diplomatic leaders get is really the predictable attitude and answer of defiance, anger and indignation. I have really never understood this type of posturing by the United States and their allies. Exactly what did they figure was going to happen?

A. Oh I’m sorry, I promise to never do it again.

B. Gee did my actions piss you off…..so sorry.

C. Yes it’s obvious that I need help with my human relations attitude.

D.  Thanks for volunteering to help me through your massive military build-up at my borders.

E. Can you ever forgive me for the stupidity of my attitudes and actions?

 

 

And also, as the world’s largest producer of petroleum products, the predictable happened, crude prices went up, reaching the highest point since March of this year. The United States isn’t the only country that can use fear tactics to get a favorable response to an issue.

 

SO NOW WHAT

So what does the Obama administration, the Pentagon and those assorted allied countries plan on doing if, in fact, Syria really did unleash some type of chemical agent on their people?  Let me see, we can charge in with guns blazing, aircraft spilling bombs, drone’s flying all over the place, and helicopters carrying troops to strategic points.

 

Or a more subtle military strike targeting key areas, buildings, factories, and military sites, (yes, that might be the answer.) However would this type of military activity get rid of the chemical weapons, and would the action spare civilians of collateral damage?

 

Or, what the hell, how about we just bomb the hell out of the bad guys with our missile-armed U.S. warships that are already positioned in the Mediterranean. I mean, once and for all, this type of military action by our navy would justify the need for our sea-worthy fleet.

 

Between the United States, her allies, and the U.N. I’m surprised that we don’t have a list of top ten battles a month, keeping an accurate list of civilian casualties, military losses, and the progress, or the lack thereof, of every military conflict in the world.

 

Syria…..I’ve always pictured the country as arid, sandy, and for me, an inhospitable, populated with nomadic tribe’s people. Battling almost at a moment’s notice, for all sorts of reasons that are completely uninteresting to me. I simply do not care what happens in Syria, or to its people, oh sure, I’d rather they be happy, make a decent living at whatever it is that they do, and love, live, procreate and die at a ripe old age.

 

That said…..if they can’t (live the life of Riley) well than, fight…..amongst yourselves, I personally don’t want any of my tax dollars going there, and I certainly don’t want military involvement, or any type equipment supplied.

 

Syria has a lllllooooonnnnnggggg history of upheaval and political struggles, it’s went on since 1918 and the Ottoman Empire. In 1920 the Arab Kingdom of Syria was established, in 1924 the state of Syria was proclaimed under a French Mandate. In 1930 a Syrian Republic was established by the merging of the states of Jabal, Druze, Alawites, and Syria.

 

I learned a long time ago the more people that you have in a merger, the more ideas there will be, and the tougher the merger is to hold together. And that’s exactly what has happened in the Syrian area, as the independence from France was declared in 1946, secession from the United Arab Republic, and finally the Ba’ath Party take-over in March of 1963.

 

These people, this political melting pot, and the ebb and flow of a diverse population has operated in an unsettling atmosphere for decades, it is a way of life for these people, a situation that I absolutely could not endure…..I like rules, regulations, and constant! It seems to me that these Syrian Arab’s have no rules, little regulation…..and the only constant in their lives might be that they take a bowel movement about the same time in the morning…..but I wouldn’t bet the milk money on it.

 

 

SYRIA-U.S. RELATIONS

I never really thought about what kind of political relationship that the U.S. had with the Syrian government, pretty much because I didn’t care. However according to historical facts, way back in 1835 the United States appointed a U.S. consul to Aleppo, (thought it was a dog food, not a country’s capital city) which was then a part of the Ottoman Empire. After Syria declared independence in 1946 the United States established a consulate in Damascus, appointing George Wadsworth as the first diplomatic mission.

 

This idyllic relationship between the two countries lasted until 1957 when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) decided that Syrian President Adib Shishakli needed to go, (the reasoning is unimportant, it was just another coup) apparently President Eisenhower and his foreign relations staff figured that Shishakli wasn’t right for the job.

 

The attempted coup should have been one of the omens in the Middle East of future actions, military attempts, and CIA clandestine activity. The movement against the Shishakli regime was a dismal failure kind of like…..can anybody say Iraq?

 

Relations between the U.S. and Syria seemed to soften during the final decade of the 20^th century as Syria cooperated as members of the multinational coalition force in the first Gulf War in 1990-91, and consulted closely with the U.S. on the Taif Accord, ending the civil war in Lebanon.

 

There have been other relationships between the U.S. and Syria that have benefited both countries, as well as that Middle Eastern region of the world. However beginning with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Syria, which is a secular dictatorship with poor human rights issues is now listed by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism.

 

You know as I write my blogs, like you (hopefully), I learn many of the whys and wherefores of life, and the issues that actually mold us through our opinions that we make from the information that is available to us.

 

THE BIG FAT FOOTPRINT SYNDROM

Yup the U.S. at it again, needs additional footprints in a foreign Middle Eastern country so that we can…..control. I am getting so tired of this neo-conic attitude about our rightful place in the family of man. Oh don’t get me wrong, I feel comfortable with divisions of country, of peoples, of languages, and of differing of beliefs and ideals. There are what makes life as we know it so special! It’s the mystery, the differences, the spice of life that I like.

 

In a relationship there is a give and take, somewhere along the line our government seems to have forgotten that fact. Let’s hope it’s remembered before it’s too late.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!