Trump Lying About Syria; Corporate Media Complicit

The American public is being lied to about Syria. Donald Trump is certainly lying, and corporate media are in cahoots. Here is what we know so far:

A civilian uprising in Syria amidst the Arab Spring was co-opted by al-Qaeda, Daesh (ISIS), and other unsavory fellows. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responded in kind with a vicious campaign and the cumulative effect has meant the death & displacement of millions of innocent Syrians. Due to the high body count (and Assad’s refusal to allow the Qatar-Turkey pipeline to traverse Syria) it was determined by the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey et al that Assad must go. Barack Obama announced a chemical weapons red line in 2012, and, in 2013, a sarin gas attack in Gouta, Syria killed 1400. Assad was roundly blamed, and though folks like John McCain and Hillary Clinton called for a ground troops-necessitating no-fly zone, Obama did nothing when congress refused to back him, much to the chagrin of neo-cons wanting invasion and regime change. Instead, Assad agreed to hand over his chemical weapons stockpile to Russia. As it turned out, Assad was not behind the attack as the Obama administration had claimed; Daesh was behind the attacks, wanting to draw in the US, with the sarin gas coming from Turkey, who wants that pipeline approved. Insert President Trump, who had criticized Obama’s inaction in Syria, yet recently took the position that the ouster of Assad was no longer a priority. Assad was winning the civil war with the help of Russia, had upcoming talks in Brussels, and had just gotten the US off his tail. Suddenly, another chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria killed scores. Trump claims that he saw a video of beautiful dying babies which prompted him to launch a 59 Tomahawk missile attack on a Syrian airbase which killed seven as “punishment”.

That’s a bunch of nonsense. First of all, I don’t believe Trump one bit. Babies? Trump doesn’t give a damn about collateral damage babies. He’s more than willing to murder babies in US-led airstrikes and raids. He’s more than happy to ban baby Syrian refugees – arguing that age is irrelevant. He even promised to purposely kill innocent family members of suspected terrorists. The idea that Trump cares the least about beautiful collateral damage babies is about as believable as his record inauguration crowd size.

Second, Assad has killed hundreds of thousands of people, so chemical weapons being the manner of death is practically irrelevant. But since it is relevant for so many, it makes no sense that Assad would perpetrate a chemical weapons attack at this time, knowing that Trump would be compelled to act, especially given his past critiques of Obama. Besides, we’ve blamed Assad in the past and been proven to be wrong. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - among others – has been far less than certain and has called for an investigation into the perpetrators. Then there’s the matter of Assad no longer being in possession of chemical weapons, which Susan Rice declared only two months prior (though jihadist group al-Nusra do have them, and happen to control the area).

No matter, corporate US media en masse were manipulated within 24 hours by Trump into determining that Assad was behind the attacks without evidence. Worse, the moment Trump shed blood overseas – overcome with the aroma of war - they collectively fell helplessly into his arms: Brian Williams waxed poetic and Fareed Zakaria announced that Donald Trump was now “everyone’s president.”

Even Democrats backed Trump. Hillary Clinton, mere hours before Trump’s Tomahawk missile punishment was meted out, backed the plan; Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi concurred.

War propaganda is seductive. It riles jingoistic tendencies which are politically and electorally beneficial. And given the presence of legal political bribery, defense contractors have greased practically every member of congress (along with strategically placing bases/forts and defense-related manufacturing facilities in practically every congressional district). War is good for ratings, so the media love it. As do some of their primary ad buyers: Big Oil, and adjacent automobile manufacturers.

They are in all collusion to lie us into war whenever possible. They are good at their jobs, and most of us are too busy raising our families and being work martyrs to research what the truth really is. In fact, leading up to the Iraq invasion, though there were humongous protests in the streets, the vast majority of the American public was behind it – having been misled by our lying government and lapdog media.

Now, our lying government and corporate, lapdog media tell us that despite having no chemical weapons, despite it making no strategic sense, and despite being proven wrong on these very accusations in the past, that Assad was behind another chemical weapons attack - and 51% of Americans agree with Trump’s Tomahawk missile punishment.

To what end? Even if Assad was behind the latest chemical weapons attack (which we’ve seen no evidence) should the US commit to regime change in Syria? We’ve gone that route numerous times in the past to disastrous effect (see: Libya & Iraq - which produced Daesh). The moderates in Syria have been wiped out or fled. The power vacuum would be filled by Assad’s successor, who would either be backed by the Muslim Brotherhood or Wahabbi extremists – neither would likely wind up being preferable to secular, Western-educated (though brutal) Assad. Of course, it’s not the role of the US to hand pick leaders for other countries based upon how good they might be for domestic interests (quaint thought, I know).

And importantly, Syria is not Iraq. While Syria would also require a long-term commitment aka invasion; Russia wasn’t in Iraq. Putin is backing Assad, says Assad wasn’t behind the chemical attack, and Russian troops are installed in Syrian military bases.

Told of this Russian presence, Trump warned Putin prior to our Tomahawk missile attack. In fact, Rex Tillerson said that we coordinated with Assad for the attack on his own airbase. Tellingly, the runway was operational the following day.

An actual attack on Assad, let alone attempting to topple him, would inevitably mean killing many Russian soldiers. Killing Russian soldiers could easily mean World War Three. With Commander in Drumpf. Which is terrifying, and should be well thought through by the American public.

But this was coordinated with Assad. So this wasn’t at all an attack on Assad; but a distraction. Trump called his shot in 2012, when he tweeted his prediction that Obama would perpetrate a false flag operation (possibly in Syria, he specifically predicted) due to supposedly flagging polls numbers.

So here we stand, with the Cheeto Fascist’s approval ratings in the dirt, and losing his Russia investigation cover-man Devin Nunes (following Jeff Sessions’ Russia recusal); meanwhile he and Mitch McConnell complete a judicial coup in the lifetime appointment of 49 year old maniac Neil Gorsuch by blowing up hundreds of years of senate precedent and using the nuclear option to force through a nominee after blocking Obama’s nominee for a goddamn year. Rather than wallow in the depths of unpopularity, Trump wrapped himself in the flag and murdered some brown folk, bringing a boot-licking media to its knees.