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April 13, 2018

Bulletin 246: US attacks Syria in contravention of international law

Dear friends and colleagues –

Trump has just given his obligatory bullshit speech. Details of the (initial?) strike are unclear as of this writing.

We urge you to set aside business as usual, as we have, learn as much as you can about the background to this latest violation of the UN Charter by the US, the UK, and France -- and ACT, as powerfully as you can.

It strongly appears that the timing of this attack relates to maintaining crumbling credibility for US and UK narratives. The ever-evolving and contradictory narratives about the Skripal farce are falling apart, and chemical weapons inspectors are almost on the ground in Duomo. Of course the US, UK, and France had to strike and strike fast.

This by the way is the neocon pattern: if a strategy fails, do it more. Double down. People will forget the first failure. Keep the situation dynamic, control the narrative, and the death and destruction are hopefully far away. That’s the idea. Make your own reality (until it all crashes down).  

How this situation develops from here will depend on many factors. It’s not over, and won’t be over for a long time. In the best case – which is by no means assured – we will all be living with the very real and deleterious consequences of this assault for a long time. In Syria, there will be an ocean of blood and tears, souls rent from bodies, possibly even more years of suffering and hardship.

We cannot predict these consequences but murder, regime change, and if that fails the creation of a failed state will have dire consequences, sooner and later. Of that we can be sure.

It will have terrible consequences in the US, where truth and the rule of law are now under terrific assault and almost gone. Make no mistake, this will badly damage what little is left of US democracy.

This is a war of aggression under international law, undertaken without the justification of defense. It violates Article 39 of the United Nations Charter, which provides that the UN Security Council shall determine the existence of any act of aggression and "shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

But of course the US doesn’t “do” international law much any more. It's not our thing. Just ask Nikki Haley.

The judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg contains this famous passage:

War is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states alone, but affect the whole world. To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

Once, we had a billboard with this on it. Those were the days.

Also, Syria is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The CWC, foreseeing the possibility that mere accusations of chemical weapon use could provide a causus belli (as we see tonight), sets up specific procedures for resolving such claims without war. That is an advantage of joining the CWC. Supposedly, nobody can hold up a vial of powder at the UN, or get some actors and make a video, arrange a few bodies, and say that they need to bomb or invade your country. How convenient for them. 

The US attack comes at the moment when chemical weapons experts from the Nobel Prize-winning Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Warfare (OPCW) are arriving on-scene to take samples, interview witnesses, health professionals, and survivors, and so on. It is the epitome of “shoot first and ask questions later.”

The attack makes the US, UK, and France look very bad. The credibility of “Western values” is approaching zero in large parts of the world. Do the idiots and subalterns who ordered this strike think they can fully replace what is left of respect with fear?

As we wrote to our New Mexico members Wednesday, I (Greg) am 100% sure the Assad government did not use chemical weapons in Duomo this month. I am also 100% sure it did not do so a year ago, as we wrote after forensic analysis showed as much. If they did use chemical weapons, that would not justify these strikes. But they didn’t.

Many, many parties have taken apart the US “intelligence” on this latest “chemical weapons attack.” The idea that the Assad government would use poison gas in Duomo when complete victory was assured – and what, 2 days away? – is ridiculous. That, combined with factual inconsistencies in the reports of chemical weapon use, and the very close relationship/identity of the source of the report (“the White Helmets”) with the terrorists, the total absence of any (other) reliable evidence, are the basis for my assessment.

By April 8, Syrian forces and Russians were on the ground at the site and some of the actors involved in the videos have now come forth to deny on camera that any chemical weapons attack occurred.

We now live in the land of the Big Lie. It has layers and layers. It is hard for those who are merely idly curious to know what is real any more. It takes effort. Each person has to do this, which will require meetings and discussion.The biggest barrier is denial. "How can this be happening?"

And then action. Perhaps it is best to do both at the same time. Have the teach-in at the sit-in.

The US and its allies have been working on regime change in Syria since World War II, a testimony to the geopolitical importance of this ancient land.

We urge you to take whatever action you deem most powerful and appropriate to your situation. Do it with friends. Now is the time to pull in those favors.

For many reasons, business as usual needs to pause in this country.

For starters, make it stop for you. We have got to face truths about climate predicament, our society, and our wars before they destroy the entire world. Be a hero. Make a real difference.

There is no political faction or party in the US today which will succeed in implementing its goals for our society under present conditions of militarism, which have now been goosed more than ever.

In the next bulletin we will offer some sources of open-source intelligence on this matter along with the nuclear and other updates we had already prepared.

Best,

Greg Mello