By Workers’ Voice
After the brutal chemical attack carried out by Bashar al-Assad in Douma, Donald Trump made a series of belligerent statements in the name of humanitarianism. He has since gained support from his imperialist allies, and on April 13th he ordered an attack on Syria. U.S. military forces sent 100 missiles to hit three targets, one in the greater Damascus area, and two near Homs.
Both Worker’s Voice and the International Worker League oppose any kind of military intervention by imperialist forces in Syria. While we support the independent rebels who fight for democracy and to oust Assad, we believe in the right for self-determination of the Syrian people. It must be the Syrians people and their allies who should kick Assad out of power, and not foreign governments backed by multinational corporations. We have always denounced Russian interference and support of Assad, as well as the multiple rounds of bombings and occupying troops sent by the United States.
U.S. Intervention in Syria is Not About “Chemical Weapons”
The U.S. and its imperialist allies began their military intervention in Syria in 2014, attempting by any means to derail and co opt the democratic uprising by utilizing “trained security forces” on the ground. They gained control of key areas of the country under the banner of fighting for “democracy” and against “terrorism” and “radical Islamism”. The U.S. argues it wants to help the Syrian people to get rid of Assad – who had been in the past a very good ally of U.S. imperialism. What it seeks is to have a say in the new government Syrians should have when, or if, they manage to get to get rid of Assad.
The U.S. currently has around 5,000 troops in Syria and three military bases. The coalition claims to have carried a total of 29,070 attacks between August 2014 and January 2018. It has also admitted to killing between 6,137 and 9,444 people through mid-February, plus 5000 people not in the official count. U.S. airstrikes targeted civilians and the so-called Islamic State, not the Syrian regime. This current strike is no different in this regard.
U.S. Military Intervention in Syria is Unjustified
We are very clear on this: the fact that Assad is a bloody dictator who uses chemical weapons and barrel bombs against his own civilian population, and systematically tortures and murders the political opposition, does not justify any kind of foreign intervention by imperialist governments who have repeatedly failed to support their professed values of democracy, peace and human rights. The United States, as well as France or the UK, cannot be the cops of the world. Their own war crimes and torture records negate any moral authority. After gassing American Indian protestors and their allies at Standing Rock, and allowing water in Flint and other places to be poisoned, aside for supporting among others the murderous Saudi and Israeli regimes, we do not think the U.S. government has any lessons to give to anyone in terms of “human right” and “democracy”.
Their claim of having the right to dictate other countries’ national affairs in the name of democracy is politically unsustainable. The American political elite are up in arms about “Russia’s interference” in the US election, and therefore have no right to interfere in who rules Syria or any other country.
In Support of the Syrian People We Oppose War
The Syrian people were right to rise up against Assad and his IMF-backed neoliberal policies in 2011, and they deserve our support. However, U.S. interference in Syrian political life, and even worse military aggression against the Syrian people, will only weaken the fight for self-determination led by the independent Syrian rebel forces. We must oppose by any means necessary any further interference by U.S. and other foreign nations, and demand the immediate end of military aggression and the return of all the troops and CIA operatives from the region.