Syria, Freedom, and Lessons In Hypocrisy

It is being reported that over 100,000 people in the Syrian town of Hama are mourning the loss of activists recently killed by government security forces. The town of Hama is no stranger to state brutality. The notoriously pro-Western Middle East historian Bernard Lewis wrote in his book The Crisis of Islam (2003)about the Syrian government's 1982 slaughter of it's citizens and the morally problematic role of the US government. He writes that the Syrian government cracked down on the town of Hama after an uprising initiated by the Muslim Brothers. The Syrian government:

Attacked the city with tanks, artillery, and bomber aircraft, and followed these with bulldozers to complete the work of destruction...The number killed was estimated, by Amnesty International, at somewhere between ten thousand and twenty five thousand...The massacre did not prevent the United States from subsequently courting Assad...Hafiz Al-Assad never became an American ally or, as others would put it, puppet, but it was certainly not for lack of trying on the part of American diplomacy (pp 108, 109)

Lewis also points out that this event got very little press compared to the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps a few months later by Israel's Lebanese Christian militia allies.

Syrians, not just from Hama, have faced the heavy hand of the authoritarian Bashar Assad,son and successor of the late dictator Hafiz Assad. Reported in HuffPost World :

A 13-year-old Syrian boy detained by government forces has been brutally killed, his wounds displayed in a shocking video. The boy, identified as Hamza al-Khateeb, was shot, burned, and had his penis cut off when his body was returned to his family.

Syrians, like Tunisians, Egyptians,Yemenis, Bahrainis, Libyans, and Palestinians (more to add), are fighting for their freedom from such barbarism. All these people deserve international solidarity (that does not necessarily mean military intervention).Humans cannot and should not endure such horrors. Freedom loving people are in awe of these incredible revolutions spreading, but I think it is important to examine the geopolitical forces at play. A brief look at how ordinary citizens are being used by these forces is needed.

Lebanon's Hezbollah helped Lebanon become free of Israeli military occupation, yet now they support Bashar Assad's oppression of his people because they get aid from Syria. Iran expresses rage at Bahrain's repression of the Shiites by the Sunni monarchy while it represses it's own people and supports dictatorship in Syria. The US has a large Navy fleet in Bahrain and watches, if not supports, the unarmed citizen protesters being slaughtered (along with medical professionals tending to the injured) by the Bahraini monarchy because it is an enemy of Iran. Yet, the US and NATO bomb Qaddafi's forces in Libya to "protect" armed civilians from Libyan government attacks. The US supports the unpopular dictator Saleh in Yemen because he claims to help repress al-Qaida. Turkey stands in solidarity with Palestinians while they treat Kurds in Turkey in a similar way Israelis treat Palestinians. Israel talks about suffering from Palestinian terrorism and brazenly oppresses Palestinians with ample military aid from the US government. I can go on and on. My point is that solidarity in support of freedom needs to mean freedom for everyone: not tied to the hypocrisy of cold narrow political ends masked in the name of humanitarianism.

Here is a video posted in honor of the Syrian Revolution.

The US Role in Bahrain Delegitimizes the US Role in Libya

On March 28, 2011 US President Barack Obama gave a speech to the nation regarding the US role in bombing Qaddafi's forces in Libya. Obama stated that the US must help the struggling people of Libya against the tyrant Qaddafi.To expand on his argument to justify intervention, he commented about the revolutionary "change" taking place throughout the Middle East and North Africa:

There are places, like Egypt, where this change will inspire us and raise our hopes. And then there will be places, like Iran, where change is fiercely suppressed. The dark forces of civil conflict and sectarian war will have to be averted, and difficult political and economic concerns will have to be addressed.

The United States will not be able to dictate the pace and scope of this change. Only the people of the region can do that. But we can make a difference.

I believe that this movement of change cannot be turned back, and that we must stand alongside those who believe in the same core principles that have guided us through many storms: our opposition to violence directed at one's own people; our support for a set of universal rights, including the freedom for people to express themselves and choose their leaders; our support for governments that are ultimately responsive to the aspirations of the people.

Born, as we are, out of a revolution by those who longed to be free, we welcome the fact that history is on the move in the Middle East and North Africa, and that young people are leading the way. Because wherever people long to be free, they will find a friend in the United States. Ultimately, it is that faith -- those ideals -- that are the true measure of American leadership.

The hypocrisy of Obama and the US government is striking. Or is it hypocrisy? I would argue that they are merely playing out unconvincing propaganda. In Bahrain peaceful civilians have been slaughtered when they have protested against the tyranny of their government. This is occurring with a huge US Navy fleet secured in Bahraini waters. The invasion of Saudi troops to crush the unarmed rebellion has not been condemned by the US. If fact, the US government publicly stated it was not an invasion(Similar in spirit to US Vice President Biden's comments that Mubarak of Egypt was no dictator). Some of the US public may be fooled, but any informed person can see that the US claim to humanitarian concerns in Libya is not convincing.

The US Government Just Loves Dictators Too Much To Let Them Go

The Tunisians kicked out their US-backed dictator and the US was completely caught off guard. The Egyptians resisted their US-backed dictator and the US eventually (Dare I say reluctantly?) sided with the protesters. Now the US-backed dictators of Yemen and Bahrain are slaughtering their people while the US makes cynical comments such as, "The US government is opposed to violence on both sides." As if there were two sides. The unarmed pro-democracy protesters are being fired on with live ammunition by the heavily armed US-backed pro government forces.

This first news clip I post reveals the mind set of ruling class Arabs and aspects to US foreign policy strategy. I have a hunch that all elites really are shaking in their boots right now. The US, unlike its monarchical friends, is at least supposed to pretend it supports democracy. Alas, phony rhetoric has a nasty habit of always being seen for what it is.

Lest we forget Libya. The so-called (or once upon a time) revolutionary Mu'ammar Qaddafi does not officially rule Libya. He merely represents it like a mascot cheering on the actual rulers, which are the people themselves. That's in theory anyways. He wrote about all these wonderful ideas in what is called al-Kitab al-Akhdhar, the Green Book. An excerpt from it reads:

The question arises: who has the right to supervise society, and to point out deviations that may occur from the laws of society? Democratically, no one group can claim this right on behalf of society. Therefore, society alone supervises itself. It is dictatorial for any individual or group to claim the right of the supervision of the laws of the society, which is, democratically, the responsibility of the society as a whole.

Perhaps the US government has one thing in common with good ol' Qaddafi, namely, they both use the ideas of democracy to do the exact opposite. Notice the protesters in Libya sharing their thoughts on the Green Book. The Arabs just might teach their corrupt leaders and the US what democracy really means.