Obama Coddles Assad to Please Iran, Endangering
Millions (L'Orient Le Jour, Lebanon)
"The White House flouted the outcome of the Iraqi legislative elections (a lesson in democracy!) and reached an agreement with the Iranian government to impose Teheran's henchman, Nouri al-Maliki. This, even though he had come in second in the poll. ... The impunity granted the Damascus tyrant by the American president, combined with the arrogance of Hezbullah in Lebanon and its participation in massacres of Syria's Sunni population, has led to a classic and inevitable result: the spread of fundamentalist currents in Syria and Lebanon, ending with the growing risk of jihadism, even within American and European societies."
By Michel Touma
Translated By MartynFogg
August 6, 2014
Lebanon
- L'Orient Le Jour - Home Page (French) Last January 21, we published a
column in this space entitled Obama and
the European Jihadists. We then raised the issue of President Barack Obama's
troubling passivity in the face of the large-scale massacres perpetrated by the
regime of Bashar al-Assad, and above all, American obstruction of
any military aid to the Syrian opposition, even when Damascus enjoys massive
and unlimited Russia and Iranian support. Such an attitude, we stressed, could have
none other than the inevitable fallout of reinforcing radical trends and the
jihadists.
The current events in Ersal (southeast Lebanon) as well as the series of suicide
attacks that have struck the country in recent months are, without a doubt, the
predictable result of Hezbullah's
involvement in the Syrian war. However, they are just as much a result, which
was just as predictable, of the careless "laissez-faire" policy applied
in the region by the master of the White House.
President Obama, it seems, is
obsessed by a desire to enter into a strategic agreement with the Iranian Islamic
republic. This is likely the obsession that in 2010 drove him to flout the outcome
of the Iraqi legislative elections (a lesson in democracy!) and reached an
agreement with the Iranian government to impose Teheran's henchman, Nouri
al-Maliki, as Iraq's prime minister. This, even though he had
come in second in the poll behind Sunni strongman IyadAllawi. We know the events since then. For
four years Mr. Maliki systematically marginalized Iraqi Sunni elements,
applying a policy blindly-aligned with Iran. The Obama administration pretended
to see nothing, until a few weeks ago, when it claimed to be "surprised"
by the violence of the reaction, not so much from Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL], but from the
Sunni tribes and the Ulema (Muslim scholars and religious leaders) [videos
right]. Is it possible that the Obama Administration is so politically blind
that it couldn't predict that Maliki's alignment with the aims of Iran's mullahs
could only lead to Sunni radicalization?
Posted
By Worldmeets.US
There is the same cause-and-effect
phenomenon in Syria. By obstinately opposing the supply of weapons to the
Syrian opposition - against the advice of his then-Secretary of StateHillary Clinton - Barack Obama gave de facto carte
blanche to Bashar al-Assad to continue his widespread
massacres and the use of starvation as a weapon of war, to say nothing of the torture
practiced against tens of thousands of prisoners, as illustrated by the
horrifying photographs shown a few days ago to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs
Committee by Syrian Army photographer "Caesar" - who defected.
Syrian Army defector 'Caesar' who
provided 55,000 photographs
documenting the torture and murder
of thousands of detainees
tortured and killed allegedly
by the Assad regime, July 31.
The impunity granted the Damascus
tyrant by the American president, combined with the arrogance of Hezbullah in Lebanon
and its participation in massacres of Syria's Sunni population, has led to a
classic and inevitable result: the spread of fundamentalist currents in Syria
and Lebanon, ending with the growing risk of jihadism,
even within American and European societies.
In recent few months, a number of
senior Western officials, notably French, but especially America's former ambassador
to Damascus, have unequivocally stressed that it is precisely the maintenance
of Bashar Al-Assad that reinforces the jihadists. A
great mystery remains about this plan: will Mr. Obama continue
with, shall we say, his highly suspect behavior, to the point of sacrificing
the entire region on the altar of an agreement with Iran? For that is the
impression he has made so far, even at the risk of giving free rein to radical groups
like ISIL.
