From: The News Doctors
TND Media Context Review / By Eric Dubin /
Western nations are laying a media campaign and military logistics for a potential attack against Syria. As the drumbeat of war sounds, collective critical thinking is most vulnerable.
Images of chemical weapons victims are abhorrent. But consider this: Even if we are to believe the West’s claim that Bashar al-Assad’s government is behind the chemical weapons attack, there can be no denying that the insurgent al-Qaeda “rebel” forces that started a campaign of destabilization of Syria are backed by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other Western powers. Never mind congestive dissonance. Most Americans are completely oblivious to this fact.
In order to sift through the fog of war, it’s important to consider multiple perspectives. Recently, the Russian newspaper Izvestia published an interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It was translated into multiple languages. Given that use of chemical weapons is the purported “Casus belli” for Western intervention, it’s worthwhile examining al-Assad’s response to this specific accusation.
Izvestia: On Wednesday, the rebels accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons; some Western leaders adopted these accusations. What is your response to this? Will you allow the UN inspectors access to the site to investigate the incident
Western nations are laying a media campaign and military logistics for a potential attack against Syria. As the drumbeat of war sounds, collective critical thinking is most vulnerable.
Images of chemical weapons victims are abhorrent. But consider this: Even if we are to believe the West’s claim that Bashar al-Assad’s government is behind the chemical weapons attack, there can be no denying that the insurgent al-Qaeda “rebel” forces that started a campaign of destabilization of Syria are backed by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other Western powers. Never mind congestive dissonance. Most Americans are completely oblivious to this fact.
In order to sift through the fog of war, it’s important to consider multiple perspectives. Recently, the Russian newspaper Izvestia published an interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It was translated into multiple languages. Given that use of chemical weapons is the purported “Casus belli” for Western intervention, it’s worthwhile examining al-Assad’s response to this specific accusation.
Izvestia: On Wednesday, the rebels accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons; some Western leaders adopted these accusations. What is your response to this? Will you allow the UN inspectors access to the site to investigate the incident
President al-Assad: The statements by the
American administration, the West and other countries were made
with disdain and blatant disrespect of their own public opinion;
there isn’t a body in the world, let alone a superpower, that
makes an accusation and then goes about collecting evidence to
prove its point. The American administration made the accusation
on Wednesday and two days later announced that they would start
to collect the evidence – what evidence is it going to gather
from afar?!
They claim that the area in question is under
the control of the rebels and that the Syrian Army used chemical
weapons. In fact, the area is in contiguity with the Syrian Army
positions, so how is it possible that any country would use
chemical weapons, or any weapons of mass destruction, in an area
where its own forces are located; this is preposterous! These
accusations are completely politicised and come on the back of
the advances made by the Syrian Army against the terrorists.
As for the UN Commission, we were the first
to request a UN investigation when terrorists launched rockets
that carried toxic gas in the outskirts of Aleppo. Several
months before the attack, American and Western statements were
already preparing public opinion of the potential use of
chemical weapons by the Syrian government.
This raised our suspicion that they were
aware of the terrorists’ intentions to use these weapons in
order to blame the Syrian government. After liaising with
Russia, we decided to request a commission to investigate the
incident. Whereas we requested an investigation based on the
facts on the ground, not on rumors or allegations; the US,
France and the UK have tried to exploit the incident to
investigate allegations rather than happenings.
During the last few weeks, we have worked
with the Commission and set the guidelines for cooperation.
First of these, is that our national sovereignty is a red line
and as such the Commission will directly liaise with us during
the process. Second, the issue is not only how the investigation
will be conducted but also how the results will be interpreted.
We are all aware that instead of being interpreted in an
objective manner, these results could easily be interpreted
according to the requirements and agendas of certain major
countries. Certainly, we expect Russia to block any
interpretation that aims to serve American and western policies.
What is most important is that we differentiate between western
accusations that are based on allegations and hearsay and our
request for an investigation based on concrete evidence and
facts.
The full text of the translated interview can be read at the
Centre for Research on Globalization by clicking here.
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