Freedom Rider: Obama’s Accomplices to War Crimes

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

“Democrats are presenting dubious rationales for backing Obama to the hilt as he plans Syria’s destruction.”

The United States will soon be at war against Syria. The president told us so. He also told us that he didn’t care if the United Nations Security Council went along with his plans or not. He said he would ask Congress for approval but also implied that it wouldn’t really matter if he didn’t get it from them either. As we have pointed out in Black Agenda Report, it isn’t just Assad who Obama wants out, but the rules of domestic and international law that stand in his way of keeping the imperial project alive.

There are many villains in this tale. First is president Obama himself, who like all presidents is nothing but the smoothest talking of all the bottom feeders who auditioned for the job. Then of course are the other ambitious yet craven people who want nothing more than to be in the embrace of the powerful. Democrats are presenting dubious rationales for backing Obama to the hilt as he plans Syria’s destruction. Bill Richardson, a former Democratic governor and United Nations ambassador resurrected George W. Bush when he called for “a coalition of the willing” to attack Syria. How pathetic. Richardson couldn’t even come up with his own trope.

The black misleadership scoundrels are also worthy of scorn in this crime. Van Jones was tossed under the wheels of Obama’s bus yet has sung his praises ever since. As a “left” commentator on CNN he said, “If you kill Assad right now, wonderful.” Jones also claimed that the United States overthrew a dictator in Iran in 1953. Of course Mohammed Mossadegh was democratically elected and Jones was left to feebly explain that he meant to use the word leader.

“It isn’t just Assad who Obama wants out, but the rules of domestic and international law.”

Jones wasn’t alone in trashing black Americans’ historic opposition to military aggression. We didn’t really need further proof that black politics has reached its nadir under Obama, but Eleanor Holmes Norton provided us with more. The non-voting Washington DC delegate to congress had this to say about why Obama will probably win congressional approval for more death and destruction. “If [Obama] gets saved at all, I think it’ll be because, it’ll be because of loyalty of Democrats. They just don’t want to see him shamed and humiliated on the national stage.” Not satisfied at her public expression of stupidity she had this to say. “At the moment, that’s the only reason I would vote for it if I could vote on it.” So shallow and shameful were Norton’s words that one might be tempted to support the district’s powerless status.

Boot licking and misplaced race pride would not be enough to send more people to their deaths if we had true journalism in this country instead of a corporate controlled media. Like Bush, Obama has no reason to fear that his tall tales will be presented as anything other than fact.

Secretary of state John Kerry is the presidential attack dog on Syria and nearly all of his public pronouncements have been untrue and can easily be proven as such. It is not true that the Syrian government prevented United Nations weapons inspectors from going to Ghouta, the site of the purported chemical weapons attack. The Syrian government gave permission for an inspection within 24 hours of the event. Initial delays were caused by the UN wanting to first guarantee the safety of its staff. It is also not true that it is too late to gather evidence. Sarin and other chemical weapons take months to disburse into the atmosphere and even heavy bombardments make it possible to still secure physical evidence. If Kerry is telling the truth, he has nothing to fear from delay. Kerry never reveals that inspectors were present at the invitation of the Syrian government or that the United Nations had already concluded that the so-called rebels had already used chemical weapons.

“The Syrian government gave permission for an inspection within 24 hours of the event.”

The lies don’t end there. Only John Kerry and his boss come up with the number of 1,429 people killed. Everyone from Doctors Without Borders to Syrian human rights groups to the governments of France and Britain claim a death toll ranging from 300 to 500. The supposedly iron clad intelligence that is conveniently still classified does not prove Syrian government involvement. There are no communications intercepts as Kerry claims, only assertions from Israel, a government with its own reasons to want a war. The New York Times and the Washington Post and CNN and MSNBC and all the television networks can easily print or broadcast the information laid out here. They haven’t done it because they have no interest in presenting anything which may discredit a presidential administration. When Bush made the case for war against Iraq, his foreign policy team claimed to have proof that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction which had been made in labs on wheels because of yellow cake from Niger that would be used in aluminum tubes to make mushroom clouds.

It didn’t matter how ridiculous or how easily proven wrong the statements were. They were endlessly repeated as fact and the same rancid spectacle is repeated all over again. The players are different but the result will not be.

The ruling corporate class and the corporate controlled news outlets are not just on the same page. They are conjoined twins, acting in concert and working hand in hand to set their agenda for this country and for the rest of the world. It isn’t a coincident that there haven’t been any Pentagon Papers or Watergate style revelations for several decades. The media don’t want to reveal the evil doing of the powerful because they would be undermining themselves as well.

The opportunistic pundits and politicians and black misleaders have no reason to change the current system. They profit from it quite well. War will be endless unless and until the United States suffers a serious military defeat. That is the only thing that will send Richardson, Jones, Norton and their ilk in the media scurrying for cover. In a criminal court they would all be found guilty and sentenced as accomplices. All we have against them now is the court of public opinion. Its verdict ought to be very harsh indeed.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.

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