Washington’s Aleppo Strategy Failed
Stephen Lendman, Aug 1 2012

Since WW2, USaia lost every war it waged. Its only success was destroying nations and murdering millions. Imagine that legacy for current and future historians to address. Imagine how few will do it accurately and honorably. Imagine a nation glorifying wars in the name of peace. Charles Beard and Gore Vidal called them “perpetual wars for perpetual peace.” Harry Elmer Barnes addressed the same issue, saying:

If trends continue, we shall soon reach this point of no return, and can only anticipate interminable wars, disguised as noble gestures for peace. Such an era could only culminate in a third world war which might well, as Arnold Toynbee has suggested, leave only the pygmies in remote jungles, or even the apes and ants, to carry on ‘the cultural traditions’ of mankind.

Wars to end all future ones is popular fiction. Woodrow Wilson wanted war and got it. So did Roosevelt, Truman, and other US presidents. Wars and violence define USAia. They’re normal, commonplace, and unending. Peace, tranquility, and security are illusions. So are democratic values and rule of law principles. Pacifism in USAia is considered sissy and unpatriotic. Wars of aggression are called liberating ones. Patriotism means supporting them. It’s also about advancing the nation’s imperium at the expense of vital homeland needs and security. Imagine what’s coming if this madness isn’t stopped. Nothing in prospect looks promising. Media scoundrels promote war. They cheerlead it. They glorify what they should condemn.

Syria now is ground zero. Washington planned war years ago. At issue is establishing another vassal state. USAia wants unchallenged global hegemony. New World Order strategy set the tone. One nation after another is ravaged. War profiteers cash in hugely. The longer conflicts rage, the fatter their bottom lines. Their business model depends on death and destruction. Imagine making a living that way. Profits rise with body counts. Dozens die daily in Syria. Western death squads target civilians. Thousands of foreign killers show no mercy. USAia fights all its direct and proxy wars this way. Down and dirty define them. Aleppo is Syria’s ground zero. The “mother of all battles” continues. Washington wants the city transformed into Syria’s Benghazi. State security forces are prevailing. They foiled USAia’s best laid plans. On Jul 30, SANA state media said:

Border guards on Monday foiled an armed terrorist group’s attempt to infiltrate from Jordan to Syria at the area of Tal Shihab in Daraa Countryside. An official source in the province said that authorities clashed with the group, killed or injured scores of them, adding that the others fled back to the Jordanian territories. In Talkalakh area in Homs countryside, authorities foiled several infiltration attempts made by armed terrorist groups to cross from Lebanon to Syria in different border areas. Huge losses were inflicted upon the terrorists and the survived gunmen fled back to Lebanon. With residents’ cooperation, authorities in Daraa tracked an armed terrorist group in the towns of Jeb al-Safa and Qara in Daraa Countryside. A source at Daraa said that the authorities stormed the terrorists’ den and arrested them. Authorities captured a truck loaded with large amounts of explosive devices and detonators in Ourm al-Kubra area in Aleppo Countryside. A source in the Province said that the car’s destination was the terrorist groups in Aleppo, adding that three terrorists who were escorting the truck were arrested. Authorities clashed with an armed terrorist group who were riding four SUV cars equipped with machine guns in Dara Ezza and Qabtan al-Jabal axis in Aleppo countryside. An official source told SANA reporter that the authorities destroyed the four cars, killing the terrorists.

The competent authorities ambushed an armed terrorist group at al-Nazariya town in al-Qesir, Homs countryside. The armed group was attacking the civilians and law enforcement members. SANA reporter stated that the clash led to the killing of 5 terrorists, among them Ali Sharouf, Hafez Hamdan and Hussien, known as the Sniper of Nazariya. The authorities also ambushed another armed group to the west of the Orontes River in al-Qseir area, leading to the killing of several terrorists, among them the leader of the group, Khaled Zagheb. In al-Haska, the authorities stormed a number of dens used by the armed groups at the villages of Ghassan, Rabiaa and al-Fistat in al-Qamishli countryside. A source in al-Hasak told SANA reporter that during the storming operations, big quantities of rifles, ammunitions, 6 cars and 4 pickup vehicles were seized. In Damascus Countryside, the authorities continued their pursuit of armed terrorist groups in the farms of Harasta area, eliminating a number of terrorists and arresting others. A source told SANA that some of the terrorists surrendered to the authorities and threw down their weapons, adding that the authorities also recovered cars stolen by the terrorists.

Meantime, the army forces cleared al-Qarabees neighborhood from the remnants of the mercenary terrorists and dismantled the system of their terrorism, restoring peace and stability to it. An official source in the Province told SANA reporter that many tunnels were discovered in the neighborhood after clearing it, pointing out that the terrorists were using them to transfer weapons, ammunition and for movement to practice acts of killing and sabotage against citizens and law-enforcement members. The source added that one of the tunnels links al-Ghouta neighborhood with al-Qarabeesm while another tunnel links Jurat al-Shayyah to the neighborhood, adding that the other tunnels were linking building blocks together where a weapon store was found containing different sorts of weapons, explosive devices and explosives. The authorities arrested a number of terrorists, some of them were from Arab and foreign nationalities, and confiscated a big amount of weapons according to the source. During their pursuit of terrorists in al-Khalidiye neighborhood in Homs, the authorities clashed with a terrorist group, wiping out all the terrorists including their leader, Hamza al-Tesh. The authorities also arrested terrorist Ali al-Bashan, the leader of the terrorists operating in Juret al-Shiyah area in Homs, while trying to carry out a terrorist attack in al-Khalidiye neighborhood along with several other terrorists who were also arrested.

The armed forces continued their canvassing of the farms surrounding Idleb city and raiding terrorist hideouts in Bakfaloun and Falioun, killing or injuring a large number of terrorists while arresting others and confiscating their weapons. A source at the province told SANA that the during the searching of farms and hideouts, the armed forces found materials and chemicals used for making explosives, rockets, anti-armor launchers and explosive charges, in addition to stolen license plates and large supplies of medicine. SANA reporter in Hasaka said that the authorities arrested a terrorist who was planting an explosive device near to al-Shadaydi bridge in the province. The engineering units in Idleb dismantled two explosive devices which were planted by an armed terrorist group on al-Amoudia –al-Ghafar road in al-Rouj plain in Idleb to target citizens and law-enforcement members. In Deir-Ezzour, authorities clashed with an armed terrorist groups, killing and injuring many, as they also destroyed two pickups equipped with PKC machine gun. An improvised explosive device went off in a house used by terrorists to make IEDs in al-Saada village in Hasaka province. A source in the province told SANA correspondent that the explosion resulted in killing several terrorists along with two children.

Also on Jul 30, Mossad-connected DEBKAfile said:

The Western-backed Arab bid to establish a safe haven in the Aleppo region was thwarted by Syria army’s 18th and 11th Divisions and parts of the 14th with massive air and artillery support to destroy rebel forces. Pro-Assad forces were again rooting out and liquidating rebel forces in Aleppo as they did in Damascus ten days earlier. At least 200,000 Aleppo citizens (almost one-tenth of its 2.2 million inhabitants) were estimated by the UN to have fled the city by Sunday night. Monday morning, the Syrian army overran part of rebel-held Salaheddin. But the fighting continues in parts of Aleppo and surrounding villages. The swelling stream of refugees from Syria to neighboring countries, mostly through Turkey, has reached as far as Egypt, which reports the arrival of 50,000 homeless Syrians in the last few days. Monday morning, Saudi and Qatari intelligence officers, based in Free Syrian Army headquarters at Apaydin in the southwest Turkish Hatay region, were forced to admit that Bashar Assad’s army had smashed their plan for a safe haven in the Aleppo area. Territory was to have been seized by rebels and converted into the base of the forward FSA command and the seat of a transitional government, in the same way as the Benghazi rebel headquarters was established in 2011 six months before Muammar Qaddafi’s overthrow. The FSA’s Saudi and Qatari backers said they had received from Washington a qualified undertaking to share in the defense of a safe haven if one could be established and to diversify its aid to the rebels.

So certain were the Saudis that their Aleppo scheme would succeed that on Saturday Jul 28, they convened a meeting of Arab UN delegations in Cairo to formulate the text of a UNSCR to recognize the safe havens rising in Syria and calling on UN members to support them. That step has proved premature in the light of anti-Assad forces inability to hold out against the government’s military onslaught. The battle for Aleppo is being fought mainly by a splinter rebel group which rejects the authority of the FSA command in Turkey and refuses to obey its orders. It is led by Col Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, who claims to represent the FSA. However, most of his fighters do not belong to the main rebel force but to a radical Islamic militia calling itself “Banner of Islam.” Many of them are al Qaeda jihadis arriving in Syria from Iraq and Libya.

Plans A and B failed. DEBKAfile’s Washington sources say Obama officials now weigh more direct involvement. Perhaps they plan shock and awe and sending in marines. It’s doubtful Obama will go that far pre-election. Anything is possible later on no matter which party prevails. Syria’s Foreign Ministry sent identical letters to current UNSC president Nestor Osorio Londono and UN Sec-Gen Ban. It said foreign terrorists are murdering civilians, “particularly in Damascus and Aleppo.” Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey admit supplying weapons. Gangs infest neighborhoods. Civilians are used as human shields. People are forced from their homes at gunpoint. Assad loyalists are murdered. Nations claiming concern about ending bloodshed “never made any calls for terrorist groups to end their armed operations and join the political process requested by the UN and approved by Syria.” Hypocritical Washington, Paris, London, Berlin, Ankara, Doha, and Riyadh voices grow louder. They accuse Syria for death squad crimes. UN Charter principles were trashed. Majority UNSC members want war, not peace. Syria is committed to diplomatic and political solutions. Its pleas fall on deaf ears. Conflict persists. Body counts mount. Civilians suffer most. Washington bears most responsibility. Turkey’s Hurriyet daily said:

Obama and Erdogan spoke by telephone yesterday “to coordinate efforts to accelerate a political transition in Syria,” the White House said. This “would include the departure of Bashar al-Assad and be responsive to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people.”

Imperial arrogance ignores their interests, needs and welfare. Most Syrians support Assad. International law prohibits interfering in the internal affairs of other nations. Washington spurns it repeatedly. On Jul 31, Voice of Russia said:

The US Treasury Dept has issued new licenses for supplying the Syrian opposition, including the Syrian Free Army, with non-lethal equipment and medicines. Briefing reporters in Washington on Monday, State Dept spokeswoman Nuland said a number of new licenses had been issued on Friday. Emphasizing that the supplies included communications gear, medicines and other first-necessity items, she did not elaborate whether these also included night vision units and other things the opposition could use in combat.

US officials stopped of admitting involvement in supplying weapons and munitions. At the same time, Russia Today said:

Israeli officials are denying reports that the White House has provided them with a contingency plan in case of a showdown with Iran. Nevertheless, Panetta is gearing up for a week of talks in the Middle East. Panetta is expected to sit down with Netanyahu this week, despite a rumored contingency plan discussed between both allied nations becoming a heated issue of debate in recent days. A senior US official told Haaretz over the weekend that US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon briefed Israeli authorities on a US-penned contingency plan earlier this month.

On Jul 30, Panetta began a week-long Middle East tour. Syria and Iran top his agenda. Enlisting greater support for Washington’s imperium is prioritized. Toppling Assad comes first. Sabre-rattling against Iran continues. The usual “all options are on the table” are repeated. On Aug 1, Panetta meets with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Imperial warlords will discuss their next moves. War tops their agenda. Both countries prioritize it. Together they threaten humanity.