October 11, 2011
The Syrian government repression of uprising "protesters" simmers behind the scenes as NATO brutally tries to finish its "assistance" to Libya's version. As the saber-rattling against Syria increases in anticipation of total annihilation of Gaddafi's supporters, it's informative to look back on previous, more peaceful projects against Syria, especially in relation to its alleged semi-occupation of Lebanon.
This of course ended following the spring 2005 "Cedar Revolution," a non-violent popular uprising sparked by the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri, allegedly by Syrian forces. The resolute swelling of many of the people there forced the sitting pro-Syrian government to resign and compelled Syria to remove all forces and intelligence people, and seal the border. The pro-Syrian president remained, and served out his slightly-elongated term until 2007.
Development before, during after the Cedar Revolution are all a bit fuzzy to this writer, as an area I haven't studied much. But in general, while this uprising was run by locals, it was well-planned and outsider-facilitated to at least some degree. It was, apparently, the first real foray into the Arab world of the Wests's "color revolution" program, until then run within the former Soviet sphere and Yugoslavia (I've written on this phase, 2000-2005, here).
As for the Arab proxies the West worked with in such adventures, one of them, a Ziad K. Abdelnour, was - or claimed to be - deeply involved in the Lebanon project. He granted an admirably candid interview to journalist Trish Schuh in late 2005, and the remainder of this post is simply a series of long extracts from that. It's so insanely revealing I had to write Ms. Schuh and ask if she was quite sure this was the real guy, not an imposter a-la The Yes Men. She responded that he was the real deal and was just like that. I have to thank Mr. Abdelnour for exposing the West's Arab regime change industry more thoroughly than an army of bloggers like myself could ever do.
Schuh: What is the future of Syria, of President Bashar Al Assad's situation?
Nour: Both the Syrian and Lebanese regimes will be changed- whether they like it or not- whether it's going to be a military coup or something else... and we are working on it. We know already exactly who's going to be the replacements. We're working on it with the Bush administration. This is a Nazi regime of 30 years, killing ministers, presidents and stuff like that. They must be removed. These guys who came to power, who rule by power, can only be removed by power. This is Machiavelli's power game. That's how it is. This is how geopolitics -- the war games, power games -- work.
[...]
And let Libya be the 53rd state, Syria the 54th, etc...Q: I didn't see forensic proof in the Mehlis report that would legally convict Assad of Hariri's death in a court of law.
A: I don't give a damn. I don't give a damn, frankly. This Bashar Al Assad-Emil Lahoud regime is going to go whether it's true or not. When we went to Iraq whether there were weapons of mass destruction or not, the key is -- we won. And Saddam is out! Whatever we want, will happen. Iran? We will not let Iran become a nuclear power. We'll find a way, we'll find an excuse- to get rid of Iran. And I don't care what the excuse is. There is no room for rogue states in the world. Whether we lie about it, or invent something, or we don't... I don't care. The end justifies the means. What's right? Might is right, might is right. That's it. Might is right.
Q: You sound just like Saddam. Those were his rules too.
A: So Saddam wanted to prove to the whole world he was strong? Well, we're stronger- he's out! He's finished. And Iran's going to be finished and every single Arab regime that's like this will be finished. Because there is no room for us capitalists and multinationalists in the world to operate with regimes like this. Its all about money. And power. And wealth... and democracy has to be spread around the world. Those who want to espouse globalization are going to make a lot of money, be happy, their families will be happy. And those who aren't going to play this game are going to be crushed, whether they like it or not! This is how we rule. And this is how it's going to be as long as you have people who think like me.
Q: When will this regime change take place?
A: Within 6 months, in both Lebanon and Syria.
[...]
Q: But if it's just trading Syrian control for American or Israeli control?
A: I have -- we have -- absolutely no problem with heavy US involvement in Lebanon. On an economic level, military level, political level, security level... whatever it is. Israel is the 51st state of the United States. Let Lebanon be the 52nd state. And if the Arabs don't like it, tough luck.
Great article.... UUU - Uncontrollable Urban Unrest....as advocated by ultra conservative Dr Jack Wheeler in October 2006 on Iran (didn't go quite to plan in 2009)
ReplyDeleteor..."Capitalizing on his color revolution skills,Mark] Palmer wrote "Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators Without Firing a Shot."(2003)
Did you notice that the Schuh piece had been blogged at Colour Revolutions and Geopolitics,with some nice pictures, recently? The blog also drags up the statement of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on 1 March 2011 " We’ve seen the press reports, but we have no confirmation of that" [evidence that [Gaddafi] actually has fired on his own people from the air?] (see e.g. here
Delayed! So yeah, this whole field is one I had previously IDd as suspicious, and it did come to mind after I'dstudied Libya-related stuff a while and saw an "Arab Spring" springing in Tunisia next door. I've been trying to write an article on the nexus from what I know (99-05 machinations further east) with the Libya project, while being vague on the middle parts (Cedar and anything later or in the Arab world)
ReplyDeleteSo I settled for this for now.
I did have to re-locate the source for the Schuh thing, and did see that more recent posting. I went with what I think was the original, but I was glad to become aware of that site.
UUU is a phrase I barely ran across, but it's part of the nexus. There's a great article I was going to cite - Mowat, 2005. As I summed it:
Mowat noted a 1967 report from the UK’s Tavistock Institute (the psychological warfare arm of the British military) that focused on the then-new phenomenon of “swarming adolescents” found at rock concerts. Author Dr. Fred Emery reported the underlying energy of it was associated with “rebellious hysteria,” and predicted that with more study the phenomenon could be controlled effectively as a sort of weapon. By the end of the 1990s, he predicted, these hormonal mobs could be used at will to bring down a national government.
That was about right. Cell phone and IM technology assisted the Serbian manipulated youth hordes, and since then Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube (finally allowing misleading titles to be attached to video images) helped more recently.
It was a fascinating field full of unanswered questions back in 2005. It became even more so, but in Libya, it was trashed and made itself naked - guerillas with or without guns, same damn difference, point is, we won! And Gaddafi is out!