Once again, the U.S. president is in difficulties at home, and his country’s surrogates in an overseas country are in retreat. What usually follows? The evil Syrians (or Russians, or Venezuelans) commit an act so evil that every civilized human being cries out for vengeance, or at least for a US military strike to punish the enemies of freedom.
If it wasn’t for the terrible price paid by the victims, this Groundhog Day scenario might be humorous. Instead, it is both terrible and predictable. The al-Assad government of Syria now stands accused of attacking its own citizens with poison chemicals, this time in the town of Douma, where US-backed “rebels” continue to fight the Syrian armed forces. Such allegations usually follow military and political gains by the Syrian government against imperialist-backed groups which seek to overthrow one of the few secular ruling parties in the Middle East.
At this point, there is little reliable information about the events in Douma. One widely quoted report of a chemical attack was issues by the White Helmets, incorrectly labelled as “independent” of all sides in the Syrian conflict. In fact, the White Helmets were founded and financed by western sources to help bring down the elected al-Assad government. The White Helmets have been accused of fabricating such events previously, but this is conveniently ignored by the North American corporate media.
This latest episode happened as the Syrian government made new advances around Douma, and immediately after Donald Trump mused about withdrawing troops from Syria – and just as his new Secretary of State, the noted warmonger John Bolton, took up his duties in Washington. Any US withdrawal is off the table, and another US attack seems quite likely. All a coincidence? Since Syria was declared guilty without evidence, this seems unlikely.
