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USA’s and France’s twisted reasoning in Middle East
By Paul J. Balles*
12 January 2008
Paul J. Balles looks at the twisted reasoning of President Bush and his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, who insist that Syria prove that it is not doing what it's not doing.
Get this: one country demands that another country prove it isn't doing what it isn't doing. Ridiculous? Of course. Reflect: Iraq wasn't producing weapons of mass destruction when America accused Saddam Hussein of doing just that, demanding proof that he was not.
When Iraq provided a large report revealing what they actually had been doing, the US said the Iraqis failed to prove they were not doing what they said they weren't doing.
France, under the leadership of President Nicolas Sarkozy, is becoming just as bizarre. Recently, Sarkozy told reporters that France "will not make any more contacts with Syria ... as long as there is no proof of Syria's willingness to let Lebanon choose a consensus president."
There's no evidence that Syria has interfered in any way in Lebanon. That Syria backs an opposition to the pro-Western government is no more interference than the pressure from Israel, France and America to favour a different choice of government.
Recently, the US Congress passed a bill by an overwhelming margin of 398 to 4, imposing “a wide range of sanctions against the Assad regime in Damascus", wrote Mark Gaffney.
Gaffney said that members of Congress wanted to "punish Syria for allowing infiltration across the border into Iraq, for pursuing weapons of mass destruction (notice, the same charge levelled against Saddam Hussein), and because of Syria's military adventures in Lebanon and its support of terrorism."
Carefully analysing congressional reasoning behind their passage of the bill, Gaffney provided ample evidence that "the reasons given by Congress for sanctions against Syria are nothing but smoke and mirrors".
Across the Atlantic, Sarkozy, it seems, has made George W. Bush his Little Sir Echo. In London, on 19 December, Sarkozy said: “I have reached the end of the road with Assad. Now words will not suffice, I want actions.” A day later, at a press conference, Bush spoke about Assad, echoing Sarkozy.
At the White House news conference, Bush said: "My patience ran out on President Assad a long time ago. The reason why is because he houses Hamas, he facilitates Hezbollah, suiciders (sic) go from his country into Iraq and he destabilizes Lebanon."
Let's look at the accusations made by Bush:
Bush says "He houses Hamas". Millions of Hamas residents in Gaza are near starvation, without electricity, lacking a border through which to travel, suffering from lack of medical care and supplies, funds misappropriated by Israel and under fire constantly by the Israeli military. Bush complains about Assad providing a safe haven for a few Hamas members unable to return to their homes in Gaza.
According to Bush, Assad "facilitates Hezbollah". Has Bush forgotten how the US facilitated the undeserved horrendous devastation in Lebanon by the Israelis, when the only group of people ready to sacrifice themselves to save Lebanon from complete destruction was Hezbollah?
"Suiciders go from Syria into Iraq", Bush claims. If suiciders go from Syria to Iraq, Bush needs to ask why. Could they be willing to sacrifice themselves because of an unjust occupation by a foreign entity that has no business there from the start?
"He (Assad) destabilizes Lebanon," says Bush about Assad. Nobody has destabilized Lebanon more than the US and Israel. Israel’s latest desecration of Lebanon, using US supplied weaponry, provides enough evidence of the destabilizing forces in Lebanon.
Will the evidence demand that the accusers prove that Syria is doing what they have been accused of doing? Not likely. Based on experience, they will only insist that Syria prove that it's not doing what it's not doing – a twisted kind of current Western war hawks’ reasoning.
Paul Balles is a retired American university professor and freelance writer who has lived in the Middle East for 38 years. For more information, see http://www.pballes.com.
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