The Dirty War on Syria (text only)

Tim Anderson0973714786, 9780973714784

The Dirty War on Syria has relied on a level of mass disinformation not seen in living memory. In seeking regime change the big powers sought to hide their hand, using proxy armies of Islamists , demonising the Syrian Government and constantly accusing it of atrocities. In this way Syrian President Bashar al Assad, a mild-mannered eye doctor, became the new evil in the world. The popular myths of this dirty war that it is a civil war , a popular revolt or a sectarian conflict hide a murderous spree of regime change across the region. The attack on Syria was a necessary consequence of Washington s ambition, stated openly in 2006, to create a New Middle East . After the destruction of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, Syria was next in line. Five years into this war the evidence is quite clear and must be set out in detail. The terrible massacres were mostly committed by the western backed jihadists, then blamed on the Syrian Army. The western media and many western NGOs parroted the official line. Their sources were almost invariably those allied to the jihadists . Contrary to the myth that the big powers now have their own war on terror , those same powers have backed every single anti-government armed group in Syria, terrorists in any other context, adding thousands of jihadis from dozens of countries. Yet in Syria this dirty war has confronted a disciplined national army which did not disintegrate along sectarian lines. Despite terrible destruction and loss of life, Syria has survived, deepening its alliance with Russia, Iran, the Lebanese Resistance, the secular Palestinians and, more recently, with Iraq. The tide has turned against Washington, and that will have implications beyond Syria. As western peoples we have been particularly deceived by this dirty war, reverting to our worst traditions of intervention, racial prejudice and poor reflection on our own histories. This book tries to tell its story while rescuing some of the better western traditions: the use of reason, ethical principle and the search for independent evidence.

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Table of contents :
CHAPTER I SYRIA AND WASHINGTON’S ‘NEW MIDDLE EAST’
CHAPTER II BARREL BOMBS, PARTISAN SOURCES AND WAR PROPAGANDA
CHAPTER III – DARAA 2011: ANOTHER ISLAMIST INSURRECTION
CHAPTER IV BASHAR AL ASSAD AND POLITICAL REFORM
The Reform Movement
Bashar, Demonised outside but Popular Inside Syria
CHAPTER V THE EMPIRE’S JIHADIS
Imperialism, Wahhabis and the Brotherhood
The Empire’s Jihadis in Syria
CHAPTER VI – EMBEDDED MEDIA, EMBEDDED WATCHDOGS
The Liberal War Trolls
Techniques of Persuasion
‘Humanitarian War’ NGOs
CHAPTER VII THE HOULA MASSACRE REVISITED
Inconvenient Evidence
Dissent at the UN
The Aftermath
CHAPTER VIII – CHEMICAL FABRICATIONS: THE EAST GHOUTA INCIDENT
Chemical Weapons in Syria
The East Ghouta Incident
Chemical fabrications and Syria’s Missing Children
CHAPTER IX – ‘RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT’ AND THE DOUBLE GAME
CHAPTER X – HEALTH AND SANCTIONS
CHAPTER XI – WASHINGTON, TERRORISM AND THE ISLAMIC STATE (ISIS)
CHAPTER XII – WESTERN INTERVENTION AND THE COLONIAL MIND
CHAPTER XIII – TOWARDS AN INDEPENDENT MIDDLE EAST
ANNEX – STAYING INFORMED