Syria Next On The Chopping Block?
Although I flagged this ages ago (and in fact, it’s been part of the neocon Middle East war blueprints for over a decade), many people still seem to be in denial that the Bush Gang want to stomp Syria and reduce it to an inchoate, bleeding, lawless rump ala Iraq. Nevertheless, given that a successful propaganda campaign managed to convince a majority of Americans to blame Iraq for the WTC attack (in the face of all available evidence), I suspect that a similar campaign of propaganda, fabrications and innuendo could get much of the trailer park demographic on-board for an invasion or blockade of Syria. They are doing the good cop/bad cop routine, with the UK playing the part of the good cop, waiting for “proof” that the ever-elusive “WMD” (conspicuous by their absence so far in Iraq) are in fact clogging the streets of Damascus. It’s somehow gratifying that the millenia-old theatre of wrestling with its enduring archtypes can still work for the postmodern theatre of mediated warfare.
[Assistant Secretary of State for Disarmament Affairs John Bolton] “We are hoping that the elimination of the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein and the elimination of all of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction would be important lessons to other countries in the region, particularly Syria, Libya, and Iran, that the cost of their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is potentially quite high.” The statement is especially significant, coming as it does from the man who went to Israel two months ago to promise Ariel Sharon that “it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea afterwards.”