November 03, 2015

Ongoing Wars in Iraq & Syria Continue Decades of Failed U.S. Militarism in Mideast

Phyllis Bennis: "when we see the results of these wars at the human level, when we see what it’s doing to the social fabric of these societies, that is going to take generations to repair."

The November 2 program of Democracy Now! features Mideast expert Phyllis Bennis with Andrew Bacevich on the current wars in Iraq and Syria: see video and text 

Excerpt from Pyllis Bennis:
"I think that one of the things that’s so important, we hear from President Obama, over and over again, there is no military solution. And other times we hear the military side is not enough, it’s not sufficient. That’s where it’s just wrong. The first statement is right: There is no military solution. So when you look at what President Obama is doing militarily, I think it’s important to recognize it’s not just insufficient, it’s making impossible the kinds of diplomatic and negotiated and humanitarian and other kinds of efforts that could have a chance of ending these wars.

So, for example, if you’re in Iraq and the U.S., say, they get it right for one time—this almost never happens, but say they did—they identified a camp of ISIS fighters, there were 20 of them, and they’re really bad guys, they’ve done bad things, they’re going to do more bad things. They send a drone after them. There’s no civilians anywhere in the area. Only those 20 guys get killed. And the response in the U.S. is, "Yeah! We got the bad guys." The response in Iraq is, "Yes, once again, the U.S. is bombing Sunnis in the interests of the Shia and the Kurds." And then you have those in the Sunni community that used to be in the military, who lost their positions when the U.S. destroyed the Iraqi military in 2003. You have the leaders of the Sunni militias, who are looking for some way to challenge this incredibly sectarian, Shia-dominated government that the U.S. has now put in power, is paying and arming. So, you have these scenarios where everything the U.S. does militarily is not only insufficient to end the war, it prevents those things that could have a possibility of winding down and ultimately ending this set of interrelated wars.

There are now eight wars being fought in Syria, all to the last Syrian. There are wars between Iran and Saudi Arabia, wars between the U.S. and Russia. There’s a host of wars being fought. But those on the ground—the people of Syria—are the ones paying the price. And all of these U.S. military actions are making it impossible to do the other things that might make possible an end to this war."... more

"Fellow Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at IPS, working as a writer, activist and analyst on Middle East and UN issues. She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. In 2001 she helped found and remains active with the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. She works with many anti-war organizations, and writes and speaks widely across the U.S. and around the world as part of the global peace movement. She has served as an informal adviser to several top UN officials on Middle East and UN democratization issues.

Phyllis has written and edited eleven books. Among them are her new Understanding ISIS & the New Global War on Terror: A Primer, the 6th updated edition of her popular Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, as well as Before & After: US Foreign Policy and the War on Terror and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power.

Stay up to date on events in the Middle East with Phyllis Bennis’ free New Internationalism newsletter (emailed once or twice each month)."
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