Syria: The underlying reasons for this terrible bloody war

Journalist Michael Payne says in his article for the “Interpreter”, titled: “Syria: The underlying reasons for this terrible bloody war”: So here’s a message for (US president Donald) Trump: in addition to Syria get out of Iraq, get out of Afghanistan, and get out of the entire Middle East where this current government, with an overly aggressive foreign policy, never did belong and had no right to be.

Trump, the “lame duck” president who is on his way out the door, has just set off a massive firestorm in Washington D.C. with the announcement that he is going to remove all US troops from the bloody war in Syria. Washington D.C., including the Congress, the military establishment, and various foreign affairs experts and observers were shocked and stunned after hearing that news.

In a very short time, Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced that he was resigning and would leave the Trump administration at the end of February. He indicated he is resigning in protest of the move that he has called a monumental mistake. Trump, upon hearing of his resignation and the reasons he stated, immediately fired him.

It’s been widely reported that “Mattis’s resignation letter was the sharpest, and most public, protest from inside the Trump administration over the president’s rejection of the alliances and relationships that have underpinned American security since the end of World War II.”

Washington is in an uproar over this sudden move, one that is not going to die down in the near future.

I have a very different view than Trump relative to the Syrian situation. He wants to pull our troops out of that country because he believes that Daesh has now been defeated and that terrorist group is no longer a threat in that country.

I think that American troops should be removed from that country, but for an entirely different reason; because they should never have been sent to that country in the first place, that their illegal entry into Syria was in no way justifiable.

My position on this issue is not new. In fact, it was clearly stated in an article that I wrote back in September 2015, the purpose of which was to identify and report on the specific root causes of the war in Syria, based on the facts and evidence gathered from some of the best, highly respected Middle East experts.

Many of my conclusions were based on the excellent writings and conclusions made by one of the very best Middle Eastern and Eurasian affairs experts, Pepe Escobar, who for many years was the main writer for the Asian Times website. There are few of his kind who can match his expert views and conclusions in these regions of the world.

Here are some excerpts from the article: “This situation is very complex and there is much confusion over who initiated this war; who is the most responsible and the most guilty, and how and it will ever be resolved. We must not just accept the usual explanations that are offered up by this government or the controlled national media but, instead, think deeper to try to develop the most plausible underlying causes.

With that in mind let’s turn our attention to the vast oil and natural gas reserves in the Middle East and the transit systems that are used to deliver these resources to other countries. When we speak of pipelines it should be understood that a tremendous competition currently exists for delivery of natural gas to many of the European nations.

The tiny country of Qatar has substantial reserves of gas which it badly wants to sell to these European countries, to take the business away from Russia, the current major supplier, and prevent to Iran from doing the same in the future. The favored, most expeditious route for the Qatar gas pipeline is via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria, to Turkey and then to Europe.

President Assad of Syria refused to endorse Qatar’s plan. And that was what then triggered this massive, bloody conflict that has devastated the country of Syria and its people.

Assad refused because he decided to align himself with the planned development of the competing Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline – the shortest and surest pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea.

That move on his part is why many geopolitical experts say that this clash between Syria, Iran and Russia on the one side and Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the US on the other, was the main reason why this conflict erupted.

Is it logical to think that competition over a pipeline route could actually cause such a massive war and crisis? Well, many past wars were started over much less important issues; and in this situation, the European gas market represents mega-billions of business for whoever is the major supplier and controls the method of delivery.”

Back to this article: The Washington government at that time, with President Barak Obama in office, was intent on helping Saudi Arabia, its close ally, and Qatar to build that pipeline so that it would compete with and take business away from the existing Russian pipeline going to Europe. Saudi Arabia?

Oh, yes, I remember now; Saudi Arabia was the home country of 15 of the 19 hijacker terrorists that supposedly caused the horrific 911 incidents in New York in 2001.

At that time Assad and Putin were the bad guys in the eyes of the US government. Now it seems that the situation has been reversed since Putin has become a very good friend of Trump and is no longer the bad guy.

Let me correct Mr. Trump on one of his many examples of misinformation. I heard him say more than once that President Obama created Daesh when he initiated the removal of US troops from Iraq in 2007 that was completed in 2011. Hey, Mr. Trump, Obama did not create Daesh during that time because it already was in existence.

The facts of the matter are that G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney were entirely responsible for creating Daesh after they illegally invaded Iraq. Many, many Iraqis were killed and millions were sent into exile in nearby countries. So Mr. Trump, hopefully, this will provide you with the real facts that many others already know so you can stop spreading your misinformation on this issue.

So why is Trump really pulling American troops out of Syria? He says it is because Daesh has been defeated but that seems to be just a diversion from the real truth. Think about this:

It’s no secret to those in the know that Putin feels that Russia and Iran have defeated the combination of the anti-Assad government forces and Daesh and various other terrorist groups and that this war is now winding down. He has stated that he would like to remove most or all of his troops and let that country slowly return to normal. But he’s not going to pull them out as long as American troops are there.

So, all of a sudden we hear that Trump, without any agreement from the US military establishment, will pull out American troops.

Now it becomes more clear about what Trump’s real motive may be. If he follows through with this surprising move, and that then prompts Putin to make his exit, then we will have the answer; we will see the clear connection between Trump and Putin and their mutual strategy.

One way or another, if both Russian and US troops are removed from war-torn Syria then that will be a great thing for Syria and the entire world; no matter what the real reasons behind these decisions may be.

So here’s a message for Trump: in addition to Syria get out of Iraq, get out of Afghanistan, and get out of the entire Middle East where this current government, with an overly aggressive foreign policy, never did belong and had no right to be. Just get out and stay out.

AS/ME