Moves in the Right Direction

The US Congress has recently taken a right step in the right direction by blocking Obama military aid to al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria.

 Members of both the House and Senate intelligence committees have moved to enact stringent restrictions on funding the terrorists fighting the Syrians, a move that would derail  the White House from delivering on arms shipments.

The US Congress move, of course not out of love to the Syrians rather than of fear of terrorism, is however not sufficient as to curb the hawks inside the US Administration who are keen on the total surrender and destruction of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Another encouraging US step in the right direction is the recent statement by “Come Home America” Committee. The Committee condemned in a communiqué on July 11th, 2013, the US “government’s war on Syria, prosecuted first with sanctions, then with covert support through “allies” like the dictatorial petro-monarchies of the Gulf and now with overt provision of arms for the anti-government forces and perhaps even a bombing campaign.

“We demand an immediate cessation of this bellicose policy by our government. Sanctions and military intervention in Syria are not in the interests of the American people; nor are they in the interests of the Syrian people,” added the communiqué, asserting that  70% of Americans are opposed to armed intervention in Syria – a number that has only increased over the months according to Pew polls. And yet the President and a majority in Congress favor intervention, revealing a crisis of our political institutions, which are far removed from the will of the people on this and many other issues.

We in ComeHomeAmerica are a very diverse group. We are traditional conservatives, progressive activists, libertarians of the Ron Paul type, old-fashioned Leftists, religious people appalled by war and non-religious who also harbor disgust over our numerous wars for over a century now. We are not pacifists, although there are pacifists in our ranks. But we do believe that any war must be defensive and a last resort, not a constant option to further the perceived interests of our elite. We protest our government’s actions not simply because of the specific conditions in Syria but based on general principles, added the communiqué, enumerating the Committee principles:

Our first principle is that war inflicts enormous damage on human beings and we are repulsed by it, a revulsion that is found in most human beings. Hence the war-makers try to keep their deeds hidden or covered in fantasies of glory. Secrecy in turn leads to suborning the press, a mainstay of our democracy.

Our second principle, the easiest one, is that we do not want to pay for these wars and the belligerent imperial colossus. A third principle is that the sovereignty of other nations is to be respected. Sovereignty is a concept introduced into international law to protect weak nations from powerful ones. The U.S. is presently the most powerful, and hence we have a special obligation to respect that principle and the Nuremberg principle that prohibits wars of aggression, which includes “wars of choice” or “pre-emptive wars.” A fourth principle is that an Empire is incompatible with liberty and democracy. The US has now become a worldwide Empire with more than 1200 military bases and outposts overseas. Every Empire must perforce be a military one, because it seeks to dominate others, which elicits resistance, and that in turn calls forth military oppression.

Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim