'Twas a famous victory!

December 31, 2018 - added: - Well it seems as if Assad has really won this time! But at what cost in human lives and materiel? With the Americans deciding to pull out of Syria and Iraq, this gives free reign to Assad's allies, Iran and and Russia. Good luck to the Kurds and any others in opposition to Assad, still in Syria! Assad will have a field day with any opposition still in the country.

If you thought his father, Hafez al-Assad was bad - who killed 20 000 opposition countrymen and women - I'm thinkin you ain't seen nothing yet! Son of Hafez, one Bashar al-Assad, has presided over at least 200 000 deaths, millions displaced and the cities and infrastructure destroyed. Now there is no one to stop him!

And in spite of various claims to the contrary, ISIS, that murderous fundamentalist Islamic group has not been defeated or destroyed. Weakened? Yes. Destroyed? No.

March, 15. 2018 - added:- According to the latest news with the assistance of both Russia and Iran the "rebels" who have been fighting to free Syria from the murderous regime or Bashar al-Assad have been all but driven out of Syria. Likewise the ISIS, at least what is left of them have also, more or less, been defeated. So, shortly, there will be proud proclamations that Syria is free!

The trouble will be rebuilding a shattered country. Aleppo - formerly a large thriving city - is now absolutely devastated. And there are many similar situations. And what about the people - homeless, injured, refugees in their own country?

This will be no "victory"; this will be an example of brute force applied indiscriminately to prove a point.

Sept, 15. 2017  - added:- According to the latest news what I have written below is coming to pass. The Russians are now in control of much of what was ISIS controlled Syria. So be it.

I wonder at the “victory” the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad will inherit after his "civil war" is over. He will win but he does not have the ability to do it his own.

With Russian help he will win. But at what cost?

What I fear is that what was a country with an ancient history – stretching back thousands of years – I fear it will be in ruins. My concern is what will remain after the “victory”?

Cities devastated; infrastructure in ruins; half the population (about 12 million out of a total of about 24 million people) either dead, injured, displaced or homeless. For what? So Bashar al-Assad can claim “victory” and satisfy his ego and support the legacy of his megalomaniac father?

As my one loyal reader knows I like poetry. Now there is a poem by Robert Southey (1774-1843) called “After Blenheim”, which satirizes the concept of “victory”, which I believe is very appropriate in this situation. I won’t burden my reader with the whole poem – just the last three verses. They will give some idea of the gist:-

…..

‘They say it was a shocking sight

            After the field was won;

For many a thousand bodies here

            Lay rotting in the sun;

But things like that, you know, must be

After a famous victory.’

‘Great praise for the Duke of Marlboro’ won

            And our good Prince Eugene.’

“Why ‘twas a very wicked thing!”

            Said little Willelmine;

“Nay …. Nay … my little girl”, quoth he,

“It was a famous victory.”

‘And everybody praised the Duke

            Who this great fight did win.’

“But what good came of it at last?”

            Quoth little Peterkin:-

‘Why that I cannot tell,’ said he,

‘But ‘twas a famous victory.’

As always in war it is the innocent, the women and children, who suffer the most.

What a "famous victory" Bashar al-Assad will have won!

Syria and Iraq - Back off and let them be!

Just imagine for a moment, if you can, what Mississippi Governor Bill Bryant (Republican) would say, or feel, if someone in Egypt or Saudi Arabia said that the current method of governance in that state was all wrong (constant bickering between Republican and Democratic parties and with strong racist tendencies) and they should institute a system, instead, based on the Koran.  

Furthermore, that both Egypt and Saudi Arabia would be prepared to support and finance any group who agreed with their views and which was prepared to challenge the current regime in Mississippi. And how would he feel if they strongly suggested, that he, Governor Bryant should be replaced, by force if necessary, as he was not acting in the interests of peace in the USA.

Apoplectic would be a mild description, I suggest!

Yet this (in reverse) is what the USA and their allies are suggesting for both Syria and Iraq. Now I might not have agreed with either the late Saddam Hussein (or the current regime of Nouri al-Mliki) or with Bashar al-Assad (or with the avowed policies of the brutal ISIS leadership) and their oppressive policies and yet both Iraq and Syria, before the current conflicts, were relatively stable and prosperous countries.

Contrast this with what is happening in those two countries now – today.

They are neither stable nor prosperous. And what disturbs me most is that we (the “West”) played a major part in destabilising both these countries. To what end? Hundreds of thousands dead, millions displaced, their economies in tatters and the prospects of any peaceful result is far distant.

Again, what disturbs me is that we (the West – America and others including Australia) were influential – if not the actual cause, of the problems that beset both Iraq and Syria. This was the nominally Christian “West” trying to change the politics and pick a winner in these two unfortunate countries, both Muslim. Both are now in the grip of extremists, which is what, I suggest, the “West” was trying to avoid in the first place!

Why can’t we – “the West” – learn the leave well alone and back off? How others govern themselves is no concern of ours; just as how we govern ourselves is no concern of others. As long as whatever conflicts they may experience are kept within their borders, let them be. Both geographic areas, now called Syria and Iraq, have tumultuous pasts going back to the beginning of recorded history and yet both have survived. Both Syrians and Iraqis are intelligent people, perfectly capable of working out their own destinies.

I am not a Muslim. But I think I have enough common sense to avoid trying to pick a winner when it comes to Sunni versus Shia in Iraq or Syria – or to try a pick what method of governance they would prefer or choose or what some non-Muslim may consider would be “best for them”.

Learn not to interfere where we are not wanted! Back off and let them be!!