[Peace-discuss] Exposed: The Arab agenda in Syria (Pepe Escobar)

[Stuart Levy]

"The [Arab League Syrian monitoring group's]report is adamant. There was 
no organized, lethal repression by the Syrian government against 
peaceful protesters. Instead, the report points to shady armed gangs as 
responsible for hundreds of deaths among Syrian civilians, and over one 
thousand among the Syrian army, using lethal tactics such as bombing of 
civilian buses, bombing of trains carrying diesel oil, bombing of police 
buses and bombing of bridges and pipelines.  [...] Once again, the 
official NATOGCC version of Syria is of a popular uprising smashed by 
bullets and tanks. Instead, BRICS members Russia and China, and large 
swathes of the developing world see it as the Syrian government fighting 
heavily armed foreign mercenaries. The report largely confirms these 
suspicions."

(from the ufpj-activist list, sent by Lee Siu Hin)

*Exposed: The Arab agenda in Syria
*
By Pepe Escobar

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB04Ak01.html

Here's a crash course on the "democratic" machinations of the Arab 
League - rather the GCC League, as real power in this pan-Arab 
organization is wielded by two of the six Persian Gulf monarchies 
composing the Gulf Cooperation Council, also known as Gulf 
Counter-revolution Club; Qatar and the House of Saud.

Essentially, the GCC created an Arab League group to monitor what's 
going on in Syria. The Syrian National Council - based in North Atlantic 
Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries Turkey and France - 
enthusiastically supported it. It's telling that Syria's neighbor 
Lebanon did not.

When the over 160 monitors, after one month of enquiries, issued their 
report ... surprise! The report did not follow the official GCC line - 
which is that the "evil" Bashar al-Assad government is indiscriminately, 
and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order.

The Arab League's Ministerial Committee had approved the report, with 
four votes in favor (Algeria, Egypt, Sudan and GCC member Oman) and only 
one against; guess who, Qatar - which is now presiding the Arab League 
because the emirate bought their (rotating) turn from the Palestinian 
Authority.

So the report was either ignored (by Western corporate media) or 
mercilessly destroyed - by Arab media, virtually all of it financed by 
either the House of Saud or Qatar. It was not even discussed - because 
it was prevented by the GCC from being translated from Arabic into 
English and published in the Arab League's website.

Until it was leaked. Here it is, in full 
<http://www.columbia.edu/%7Ehauben/Report_of_Arab_League_Observer_Mission.pdf>. 


The report is adamant. There was no organized, lethal repression by the 
Syrian government against peaceful protesters. Instead, the report 
points to shady armed gangs as responsible for hundreds of deaths among 
Syrian civilians, and over one thousand among the Syrian army, using 
lethal tactics such as bombing of civilian buses, bombing of trains 
carrying diesel oil, bombing of police buses and bombing of bridges and 
pipelines.

Once again, the official NATOGCC version of Syria is of a popular 
uprising smashed by bullets and tanks. Instead, BRICS members Russia and 
China, and large swathes of the developing world see it as the Syrian 
government fighting heavily armed foreign mercenaries. The report 
largely confirms these suspicions.

The Syrian National Council is essentially a Muslim Brotherhood outfit 
affiliated with both the House of Saud and Qatar - with an uneasy Israel 
quietly supporting it in the background. Legitimacy is not exactly its 
cup of green tea. As for the Free Syrian Army, it does have its 
defectors, and well-meaning opponents of the Assad regime, but most of 
all is infested with these foreign mercenaries weaponized by the GCC, 
especially Salafist gangs.

Still NATOGCC, blocked from applying in Syria its one-size-fits-all 
model of promoting "democracy" by bombing a country and getting rid of 
the proverbial evil dictator, won't be deterred. GCC leaders House of 
Saud and Qatar bluntly dismissed their own report and went straight to 
the meat of the matter; impose a NATOGCC regime change via the UN 
Security Council.

So the current "Arab-led drive to secure a peaceful end to the 10-month 
crackdown" in Syria at the UN is no less than a crude regime change 
drive. Usual suspects Washington, London and Paris have been forced to 
fall over themselves to assure the real international community this is 
not another mandate for NATO bombing - a la Libya. US Secretary of State 
Hillary Clinton described it as "a path for a political transition that 
would preserve Syria's unity and institutions".

But BRICS members Russia and China see it for what it is. Another BRICS 
member - India - alongside Pakistan and South Africa, have all raised 
serious objections to the NATOGCC-peddled draft UN resolution.

There won't be another Libya-style no fly zone; after all the Assad 
regime is not exactly deploying Migs against civilians. A UN regime 
change resolution will be blocked - again - by Russia and China. Even 
NATOGCC is in disarray, as each block of players - Washington, Ankara, 
and the House of Saud-Doha duo - has a different long-term geopolitical 
agenda. Not to mention crucial Syrian neighbor and trading partner Iraq; 
Baghdad is on the record against any regime change scheme.

So here's a suggestion to the House of Saud and Qatar; since you're so 
seduced by the prospect of "democracy" in Syria, why don't you use all 
your American weaponry and invade in the dead of night - like you did to 
Bahrain - and execute regime change by yourselves?

*/Pepe Escobar/*/is the author of/ Globalistan: How the Globalized World 
is Dissolving into Liquid War 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0978813820/simpleproduction/ref=nosim> 
(Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during 
the surge 
<http://www.amazon.com/Red-Zone-Blues-snapshot-Baghdad/dp/0978813898>. 
His most recent is Obama does Globalistan 
<http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Does-Globalistan-Pepe-Escobar/dp/1934840831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233698286&sr=8-1> 
(Nimble Books, 2009).

/He may be reached at/ pepeasia at yahoo.com <mailto:pepeasia at yahoo.com>.
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