Invasion looms

The United States and its allies are gearing up to invade Syria and ‘punish’ its president Bashar-al-Asad on the pretext that the government forces used chemical weapons against its own citizens.

The reported use of poison gas in the Syrian civil war is reason for grave concern. Graphic footage of people, many of them children, has emerged that suggests they were victims of toxic gas attack. But it is less clear as to who used these weapons on them. Western-backed Syrian rebel groups insist that it was president Bashar al-Assad’s government that deployed the chemical weapons. The Syrian government has denied these allegations and blame it on the rebels. Indeed, analysts have pointed out that there is little reason for the Syrian government to deploy chemical weapons at this stage of the civil war, when it enjoys a significant advantage in fire power. The possibility of opposition groups using poison gas to malign the government cannot be ruled out.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government is “undeniable.” Can he provide incontrovertible evidence to substantiate this charge? There are similarities between the charges emanating from Washington and other western capitals today and the wild allegations of possession of weapons of mass destruction that were levelled in 2002-2003 against the then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Those allegations preceded a US-led invasion of Iraq. The West has been providing Syrian rebel groups with arms. That strategy having failed, is the US preparing for an invasion of Syria to oust Assad? As in the case of Iraq ten years ago, allegations that the Assad government is using chemical weapons will come in handy to justify an invasion. Kerry says the use of chemical weapons is a ‘moral obscenity.’ Indeed it is. However, it is ironic that the US, which supplied Iraq with mustard gas and sarin to use against the Iranians in the 1980s, is now outraged over its use.

Under the Chemical Weapons Convention signatories undertook to destroy their stockpiles. Several countries including the US and Russia are yet to do so although the deadline has passed. An invasion of Syria will not stop the use of chemical weapons. What is needed is a destruction of existing stockpiles, not just in Syria, but in every country in the world.