American philosopher and political author James H Fetzer
believes that the United States is openly supporting Al-Qaeda and the
extremist Salafist and Takfiri groups in Syria and equipping the rebels
and insurgents inside the country with sophisticated weapons and arms.
“The Assad forces are making great progress in putting down the
artificial uprising, which gained public sympathy because of false flag
massacres of villages in Syria, which were blamed on the government but
appear to have been committed by mercenaries and others, just as the UN
itself has concluded that the alleged use of chemical weapons in small
quantities appears to have been done, not by the government, but by the
rebels,” said Fetzer in an exclusive interview with the Fars News
Agency’s Kourosh Ziabari.
James H Fetzer is a retired philosophy professor at the University of
Minnesota Duluth . He has written several books on the philosophy of
science, artificial intelligence, evolution and also tens of political
articles about the 9/11 events and the US foreign policy. Fetzer's
articles have appeared on a number of print and online publications
including Veterans Today and Press TV.
In the wake of the ongoing crisis in Syria and the continued
confrontation between the government forces and the foreign mercenaries,
FNA has conducted an exclusive interview with Prof. Fetzer. What
follows is the text of the interview.
Several Arab countries have dispatched mercenaries and fighters
to take part in the ongoing battle against the government of President
Bashar al-Assad. In what ways do these countries benefit from
instability and insecurity in Syria ? Why are they sending terrorists
and fighters to Syria ?
That Saudi Arabia and Qatar are both involved when they are both allies
of the United States yet support diverse objectives reflects the
complexity of the situation. Qatar supports the rise of the Muslim
Brotherhood, which came to power in Egypt and Tunisia , but where the
Egyptian military coup has now stemmed that ascent. The US-Saudi
alliance appears to be intended to minimize the influence of the
Brotherhood, while creating a counter-balance to the influence of Iran
in the Middle East , which Israel also supports.
While the Brotherhood was founded in 1928 and may be the best organized
and most politically powerful Arab political movement, its
participation in the attempt to assassinate Gamal Abdel Nasser led to a
political crackdown in Egypt , where many of its followers found refuge
in Saudi Arabia . After supporting the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in
Libya , the Saudis appear to be increasingly concerned about an increase
in its influence, which they fear will promote Shiite interests at the
expense of Sunni.
The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council--which was created to fashion a
common plan among the Sunni monarchies of Saudi Arabia , UAE, Bahrain ,
Kuwait , Qatar and Oman --to resist Iran and support the Syrian
rebels--has its own internal conflicts, where Saudi Arabia and Qatar are
especially concerned that the Assad regime might prevail and the
influence of Shiite Iran be enhanced. It therefore appears that a mix of
religious and political motives have led to their involvement with and
support of the Syrian rebels.
There are certain Western states who are opposed to the
involvement of Iran in the peace talks to end the crisis in Syria . Why
do these countries don't accept the fact that Iran is an essential and
integral part of solution for bringing to an end the two-year long
unrest in Syria?
The United States may be attempting to replay the events in Afghanistan
by providing weapons to the rebels, where Stinger missiles, especially,
were instrumental in shooting down large numbers of its helicopters and
planes and driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan, which is well
portrayed in the film, “Charlie Wilson's Role”, apart from omitting the
crucial role of Osama bin Laden, who was “our man in Afghanistan”. The
demonization of bin Laden and of al-Qaeda for the attacks of 9/11, which
were carried out by the CIA, American neo-cons in the Pentagon and the
Mossad, further complicates understanding what has been taking place in
Syria . Al-Qaeda was a creation of the CIA.
For Western nations to oppose the participation of Iran in peace talks
is completely absurd. Since important elements of the Syrian rebel force
has openly allied itself with al-Qaeda, current US foreign policy in
attacking al-Qaeda in Afghanistan , but supporting it in Syria , is
inconsistent and even bizarre. This case represents the kinds of
complications that are compounded by one set of lies (about 9/11)
becoming intertwined by another – in relation to Syria and Iran . The
duplicity of the US media makes it very difficult, if not impossible,
for the American public to understand the depths of duplicity of US
involvement in the Middle East , which is predicated upon lies nested
within lies.
Turkey had always tried to maintain a policy of “zero problems
with the neighbors” but today it is one of the main fronts of war on
Syria and the government of President Assad. Why has Turkey engaged in
the destructive activities and plots which continue to undermine Syria
's peace and stability? Why does the Turkish government allow the
smuggling of arms and weaponry into Syria 's soil through its borders?
On 30 January 2013, following the first Israeli attack on Damascus,
Turkey's Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, criticized Syria for not
attacking Israel and blamed it for committing crimes against its own
people, which appear to have been committed by NATO and mercenary forces
instead. For Syrian to take on Israel at that point in time, when
Israel has 200-600 nukes and Syrian has none, would have been
foolhardy. Russian intervention on behalf of Syria , however, has
completely reversed the balance of force and will moderate Turkish
enthusiasm for further involvement in Syria .
Benjamin Netanyahu went to considerable lengths to induce Barak Obama
to draw “a red line”, which became the use of chemical weapons by the
Syrian government against its own people. This was a transparently
obvious form of entrapment since, once Obama committed the US to such a
stance, Netanyahu could arrange to make sure that happened. The claims
that Assad has used chemical weapons against his own people, however,
have been investigated by the UN and found to be without foundation. On 5
May 2013 , Carla del Ponte, UN human rights official, stated the
results of the UN's own independent commission on Syria , according to
which the use of sarin gas had been done by the rebel forces rather than
the Syrian government.
After the second Israeli attack on Damascus , Mr. Erdogan stated that,
if the US were to launch an invasion of Syria , Turkey would support it,
which amounted to a declaration of war against Syria and was
immediately suppressed. He claimed that Syria had long since crossed
Obama's “red line” and that Turkey would provide evidence to Obama to
substantiate it. Like the claims made by US officials to the Taliban
that they would produce proof of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the
atrocities of 9/11, however, when they met on 16 May 2013 , no evidence
was forthcoming, one more sign that the only justification that has been
produced against Assad has been faked and fabricated.
What's your viewpoint regarding the appointment of Qatar 's new
Emir and the approach he will adopt with regards to the crisis in Syria
? Will he change the attitude taken by his father and move toward
supporting a Syrian-Syrian solution to the crisis in the Arab country?
In his most recent interviews, Qatar's new Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad
bin Khalifa Al Thani, has affirmed that Qatar continues to support the
Syrian National Council, which is the principal group opposing the
government of Syria. Under the circumstances, a Syrian-Syrian settlement
would surely be preferable, but recent developments suggest that the
conflict is in the process of being settled in Assad's favor on the
battlefield, where a peace conference would simply ratify the reality on
the ground.
During an interview on Turkish television in April, Assad observed
that, if the militants were to take over Syria , the consequence could
be the destabilization of the Middle East for decades. “If the unrest in
Syria leads to the partitioning of the country, or if the terrorist
forces take control,” he observed, “the situation will inevitably spill
over into neighboring countries and create a domino effect throughout
the Middle East and beyond”. While the domino theory in Southeast Asia
was a pseudo-justification for US intervention in that case, in the
Middle East , Assad may be correct.
The Irish journalist Patrick Cockburn has said that the Western
mainstream media portray a distorted and false image of Syria and that
he figured out that the reality of Syria today is totally different from
what the Western media claim. What's your viewpoint on that? Is this
distorted and unrealistic portrayal a prelude for laying the groundwork
for a military intervention in Syria ?
The stance of hawks such as Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, her
successor as Secretary of State, verge on the absurd. Secretary Kerry
acquitted himself with honor when, as a returning Vietnam War veteran,
he testified to Congress about atrocities being committed there by
American forces. Now he wants to side with the Free Syrian Army and the
Al-Nusra front, which, according to the UN, has committed more than 300
acts of terrorism and qualifies as a “terrorist organization”. When a
Free Syrian Army officer was filmed eating the heart of a dead Syrian
soldier, the honor that had formerly been associated with the name of
“John Kerry” was tarnished forever.
The US has no warrant or justification for intervention in Syria ,
which appears to be but one more step in the plan to overthrow seven
Arab nations in the next five years that Gen. Wesley Clark learned upon
his return to the Pentagon from serving as Supreme Commander, Allied
Forces Europe. Syria and Iran are the last stages in that plan, which
was formulated in the wake of 9/11 to dismantle the sophisticated Arab
states--and eventually Persian Iran--on the basis of the faked and
fabricated events of 9/11.
9/11 benefitted Israel overwhelmingly more than any other nation and
appear to have its roots in the book, “Terrorism: How the West Can Win”,
which Bibi Netanyahu published in 1987, long before there was any
apparent reason for the US to become involved in the Middle East. The
demise of the Soviet Union in 1990-91 created what the members of PNAC
(the Project for the New American Century) was a unique historical
opportunity with the US as the sole remaining superpower to create a new
American Empire by moving aggressively into the Middle East if only the
public would accept it--which they mused might require a “new Pearl
Harbor”, which they arranged to come to pass.
Most Americans have no idea that 9/11 was staged to change US foreign
policy from one in which the US never attacked any nation that had not
attacked it first to that of an aggressor nation as well as to gut the
Constitution and created a Department of Homeland Security, because the
mass media has long been dominated by US intelligence agencies and no
longer informs the American people of transgressions by its own
government. But the exposure of massive surveillance of the public's
email, phone, financial and medical records by the National Security
Agency has become a significant subject of discussion for the first
time, extending to our European allies, who are taking a dim view of
being spied upon by their most important ally, the United States .
The United States has tacitly and implicitly warned that it may
intervene in Syria militarily to dissolve the government of Bashar
al-Assad. Will the countries that are supporting Syria against the
Western powers and foreign terrorists, like Russia and China, allow an
unsanctioned military strike on Syria by the United States and its
allies? Will the United States succeed in launching a new war in the
region, given its failed experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan ?
The Israeli attacks on Syria , which even appear to have involved the
use of mini-nukes, appear to have been a colossal blunder. It created an
opening for Russia to take measures in support of Syria on both
humanitarian grounds and in defense of international law, which neither
the US nor Israel respect. Putin even called Netanyahu in Singapore and
advised him that Russia would not permit another Israeli attack on Syria
. News reports in war zones are inevitably incomplete and often
misleading, but the situation now appears to be as follows.
Russia has provided Syria with S-300 (and probably even S-400)
anti-missile technology, which appears to be the world's best. Russia
has withdrawn its forces and ships at the naval based at Tartus but has
positioned a sophisticated spy ship in the vicinity to monitor military
developments, which does not signal any weakening of Russian resolve but
are appropriate preparations for what may become a nuclear war over
Syria.
The Assad forces are making great progress in putting down the
artificial uprising, which gained public sympathy because of false flag
massacres of villages in Syria, which were blamed on the government but
appear to have been committed by mercenaries and others, just as the UN
itself has concluded that the alleged use of chemical weapons in small
quantities appears to have been done, not by the government, but by the
rebels. Under these circumstances, US intervention at this stage only
complicates a losing proposition for American interests and creates yet
one more reason to oppose US involvement in the Middle East .
Kourosh Ziabari is an award-winning
Iranian journalist and media correspondent. He writes for Global
Research, CounterCurrents.org, Tehran Times, Iran Review and other
publications across the world. His articles and interviews have been
translated in 10 languages. His website is http://kouroshziabari.com. This piece first appeared on Countercurrents.org.
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