CNN Political Unit

Washington (CNN) – Most Americans say that the U.S. does not have a responsibility to do something about the fighting in Syria, although the number calling for U.S. action in that country has grown from 25% in February to 33% now, according to a new national poll.

According to a CNN/ORC International poll released Wednesday, six in ten continue to oppose any American intervention to halt the fighting between government and anti-government forces in Syria.

  More Syrian Blood on Obama's Hands

by Stephen Lendman

Morning headlines again falsely accused Assad of mass killings in Qubeir village in central Hama province.

Houla-style slaughter was repeated. Reports said as many as 78 civilians were killed. Half were women and children. Around 35 members of one family were murdered in cold blood. 

  Heated Anti-Assad Rhetoric Promotes War

by Stephen Lendman

Increasingly war looks likely. Earlier Obama said "the Assad regime must come to an end."

In early June, White House press secretary Jay Carney said "bloody sectarian war will be diminished if Assad removes himself from power or is no longer in power."

Scott Simon, NPR & The Empire

  Russian Journalist Exposes Propaganda Lies about Houla Massacre

by Stephen Lendman

Going to war depends first on selling it. Gaining public support is vital. Previous articles discussed it. Walter Lippmann coined the phrase "manufacture of consent."

  Obama Plans War on Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Guilty of war crimes multiple times over, Obama plans more death, destruction, conquest, colonization, resource control, exploitation, and dominance.

Syria is target one, then Iran, then other nations. It follows Washington's longstanding pattern of waging war on humanity. 

  BBC Wages Propaganda War on Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Millions globally follow BBC reports regularly. Most perhaps don't know they get propaganda, not real news, commentary and opinion.

Since established in October 1922, it's operated as a UK imperial tool. Its first general manager, John Reith, set the tone, saying:

Source

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been slammed for mistakenly using a photo taken in Iraq in 2003 to illustrate the Syria massacre, in which over 100 people, including 32 children, were brutally killed.

The picture, taken on March 27, 2003, showed a young Iraqi child jumping over dozens of white body bags containing skeletons found in a desert south of Baghdad.

It was posted on the BBC news website under the heading "Syria massacre in Houla condemned as outrage grows".

  Anti-Syrian Propaganda Promotes War

by Stephen Lendman

A previous article discussed scoundrel media anti-Iranian propaganda. They also target Syria. They march in lockstep with imperial lawlessness. 

Readers and viewers deserve better than misinformation and betrayal. They need alternative sources to avoid it.

  Piling on Irresponsibly Against Syria

by Stephen Lendman

When Washington and Israel plan war, even sources that know better pile on. Haaretz is no exception.

At times it reports responsibly. Other times it falls short. More on that below.

By Iara Lee, Activist and filmmaker

The present conflict in Syria is a rather ugly mutation of the Arab uprisings that erupted across the Middle East and North Africa over a year ago. As in other countries, the uprising in Syria began with peaceful demonstrations for democratic reform, only to devolve into a violence that has now brought the country to the brink of a full-blown civil war. With a regime that still exercises considerable control over the population, the prospects of such a war are grim, and the nature of the conflict is likely to be protracted, complicated, and bloody, with an equally uncertain aftermath if and when the regime falls.

What the Assad regime doesn't realize (or perhaps does understand, cynically) is that the refugee crisis occurring is only fanning the flames of conflict. The types of "extremists" he decries are born in refugee camps, and the camps I've visited across the border, in southern Turkey, are no exception. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes with fear, sadness, and hatred in their hearts, and justifiably so: Most have witnessed unspeakable brutality; watched their friends and family killed, raped, or disappeared; and, in the face of such horrors, see no room for negotiating with the regime anymore. And so they find themselves abandoning the peaceful revolution and supporting the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a nebulous entity composed of defected soldiers, angry civilians, and, sometimes, plain criminals. The FSA began as a collection of soldiers who refused to fire on peacefully protesting civilians, who then left the army and began to form militias aimed at protecting these demonstrators. Soon, this purely defensive function gave way to small raids and ambushes of government troops, thereby fuelling the regime's claims that protestors are not peaceful, and that they cannot be dealt with peacefully.

READ THE REST.

  Media Scoundrels Promote War on Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Syria's a battle zone. Western generated violence is to blame, not Assad. America's media scoundrels claim otherwise. They want him ousted by any means, including war.

  Security Council Authorizes 300 Syrian Monitors

by Stephen Lendman

On April 21, the Security Council unanimously adopted a Russian/EU resolution. It calls for deploying up to 300 unarmed military Syrian observers for three months.

  Worrisome Security Council Syrian Resolution

by Stephen Lendman

On April 14, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2042. The UN News Centre headlined, "Syria: Security Council authorizes deployment of advance military observer team," saying:

  Syrian Insurgents Violate Ceasefire

by Stephen Lendman

It was too good to last. On day one, insurgents violated ceasefire calm. Blame Washington's dirty hands. It manipulates everything going on. 

  Calm Before Greater Storm in Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Previous articles stressed Washington's longstanding regime change plans in Syria. Independent sovereign states aren't tolerated. 

  George Soros Targets Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Soros' Open Society Foundations pretend to be liberal. Their claimed mission is to "work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens."

The Anti-Empire Report
by William Blum
www.killinghope.org

The Holy Triumvirate — The United States, NATO, and the European Union — or an approved segment thereof, can usually get what they want. They wanted Saddam Hussein out, and soon he was swinging from a rope. They wanted the Taliban ousted from power, and, using overwhelming force, that was achieved rather quickly. They wanted Moammar Gaddafi's rule to come to an end, and before very long he suffered a horrible death. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was democratically elected, but this black man who didn't know his place was sent into distant exile by the United States and France in 2004. Iraq and Libya were the two most modern, educated and secular states in the Middle East; now all four of these countries could qualify as failed states.

These are some of the examples from the past decade of how the Holy Triumvirate recognizes no higher power and believes, literally, that they can do whatever they want in the world, to whomever they want, for as long as they want, and call it whatever they want, like "humanitarian intervention". The 19th- and 20th-century colonialist-imperialist mentality is alive and well in the West.

Next on their agenda: the removal of Bashar al-Assad of Syria. As with Gaddafi, the ground is being laid with continual news reports — from CNN to al Jazeera — of Assad's alleged barbarity, presented as both uncompromising and unprovoked. After months of this media onslaught who can doubt that what's happening in Syria is yet another of those cherished Arab Spring "popular uprisings" against a "brutal dictator" who must be overthrown? And that the Assad government is overwhelmingly the cause of the violence.

Assad actually appears to have a large measure of popularity, not only in Syria, but elsewhere in the Middle East. This includes not just fellow Alawites, but Syria's two million Christians and no small number of Sunnis. Gaddafi had at least as much support in Libya and elsewhere in Africa. The difference between the two cases, at least so far, is that the Holy Triumvirate bombed and machine-gunned Libya daily for seven months, unceasingly, crushing the pro-government forces, as well as Gaddafi himself, and effecting the Triumvirate's treasured "regime change". Now, rampant chaos, anarchy, looting and shooting, revenge murders, tribal war, militia war, religious war, civil war, the most awful racism against the black population, loss of their cherished welfare state, and possible dismemberment of the country into several mini-states are the new daily life for the Libyan people. The capital city of Tripoli is "wallowing in four months of uncollected garbage" because the landfill is controlled by a faction that doesn't want the trash of another faction.¹ Just imagine what has happened to the country's infrastructure. This may be what Syria has to look forward to if the Triumvirate gets its way, although the Masters of the Universe undoubtedly believe that the people of Libya should be grateful to them for their "liberation".

READ THE REST.

  Friends of Syria Declare War on Assad

by Stephen Lendman

On April 1 in Istanbul, Washington-led rogue leaders discussed ways to destabilize and topple Assad.

Here's this:

US government officials requested that an American private security firm contact Syrian opposition figures in Turkey to see “how they can help in regime change,” the CEO of one of these firms told Stratfor in a company email obtained by WikiLeaks and Al-Akhbar.

James F. Smith, former director of Blackwater, is currently the Chief Executive of SCG International, a private security firm with experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. In what appears to be his first email to Stratfor, Smith stated that his “background is CIA” and his company is comprised of “former DOD [Department of Defense], CIA and former law enforcement personnel.”

  The View from Istanbul

by Stephen Lendman

So-called "Friends of Syria" aren't at all friendly to most Syrians. Syrian National Council/Free Syrian Army hostility is visible in daily violence they commit.

  Obama Plans Regime Change in Syria

by Stephen Lendman

International law prohibits interfering in the internal affairs of other states. For Washington, it's official policy. Post-9/11, multiples countries were targeted, including Iran and Syria.

  What's Next in Syria?

by Stephen Lendman

On March 27, Syria formally accepted Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan. His spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi said:

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says Syria's acceptance of a United Nations-backed plan to end violence in the country does not change the U.S. view that Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave power.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the U.S. has heard promises from Assad before. He says the U.S. will view the Assad regime on its actions, not its words.

Assad said Monday that he was accepting the six-point plan first introduced by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan. The plan calls for a cease-fire and the beginning of a political dialogue that can lead to a democracy.

The Syrian opposition is deeply skeptical that Assad will carry out the plan. Assad's previous promises to meet the opposition's demands were never enacted.

Background on this is at GlobalResearch.ca.

  Washington Admits Aiding Syrian Opposition

On March 25, The New York Times headlined, "US and Turkey to Step Up 'Nonlethal' Aid to Rebels in Turkey," saying:

Other US allies were urged to do the same. Insisting no weapons will be sent belies heavy Western and Israeli ones delivered through porous borders for months. 

by Marjorie Cohn | Smirking Chimp

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), a non-governmental organization having consultative status with the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is dedicated to uphold international law, particularly the peaceful resolution of disputes as set forth in the UN Charter and basic human rights instruments.

IADL notes with concern that while the UN Human Rights Council is on the verge of adopting a new, updated declaration on the Human Right to Peace, the major Western powers are poisoning the atmosphere by creating hysteria to wage war against Syria and Iran. The IADL condemns in the strongest possible terms these threats to international peace and security which are prohibited by the UN Charter and the doctrine of jus cogens.

  No Letup in Western-Backed Syrian Violence

by Stephen Lendman

Washington's dirty hands control anti-Assad violence. At issue is longstanding policy to install a pro-Western regime. All means are used to do it, including war if others fail.