Transcript:
Now I’m going to ask Jeff about you know is United States of America sitting on the fence on Syria. In my understanding they are not. Why? Because they are holding the most important card in the issue of Syria, which is sanctions. Even when the Europeans wanted to ease the sanctions, eventually the Americans are the people who are going to you know give the final approval or not. So they are not they are taking position. The fact that Syria after 4 months is at this moment in time suffering from sanctions, and the current government which we are demanding them to show all kind of flexibilities cannot provide to the people even daily food It means we are not on the fence What is the grand strategy of the United States of America in Syria and how do you see the game played right now by Trump administration?
Yeah, thank you very much, I think it’s important for us to understand where this entire war came from. It did not come from Bashar al-Assad. It came from Washington. There was a decision in 2011 to overthrow Assad. Actually that came from Jerusalem. This has been a desire of the Israeli government that stretches back more than 25 years. Netanyahu’s idea is make the Middle East in Israel’s image. Overthrow every government that opposes Israel. He’s had a friend in that and that is the CIA and the United States government. So this war in Syria did not come from Assad’s repression. It did not come from Assad’s dictatorship. This war came from a presidential order by Obama to overthrow Assad. Starting in the spring of 2011 we have a name for this program. It was Operation Timber Sycamore. The United States together with other countries in this region trained rebel trained fighters especially jihadists including the ones that just took power to overthrow the regime. This created chaos. 600,000 dead in Syria in a war that has gone on for 14 years. The outcome of this war is what the CIA wanted back in 2011 which is that a jihad group would take power in Syria after being armed by the United States.
The reason I want to be clear about this is that we will not have peace in this region until we have public diplomacy that is based on real diplomacy not on CIA operations. And we will not have peace until Israel stops its militarization of the entire Middle East. Because the Syrian war is just one of six wars that Israel has promoted including in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Libya Somalia and Sudan. We had the list actually from Wesley Clark back in 2001 when he was handed a paper in the Pentagon that the goal was seven wars in five years. The only war that hasn’t taken place yet to Netanyahu’s great consternation is the US war with Iran which Israel is still trying to instigate to this very day. So the Syrian war is part of a regional tragedy. We have tragedy in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan, and Libya that I put at the hands of the United States government and its ally Israel because none of these wars had to happen. These were are wars of choice. They were all wars that came from the idea of regime change operations that the United States would determine which regimes operate in which countries. We’ll never have peace in this region if outside imperial powers like the United States are dictating the terms to this region. The only way to have peace in this region is if this region is determining its own future, not outside powers. And Israel could never do these wars on its own. These are American wars. America provides the financing. It provides the military backup. It provides the naval support. It provides the intelligence operations. It provides the munitions. Israel couldn’t fight for one day without the United States backing. Israel could not be committing a genocide in Gaza without the United States full operational complicity. I don’t mean political complicity I mean direct daily operational complicity.
This has to end. This region has been divided for 100 years. First by the British Empire and then by the American Empire. And this is going on until today. We have a genocide going on right next door till today till this morning. People being wantingly killed, brazenly killed, because the United States is providing the means for this. So this is what’s happening in Syria.
Is the US on the fence? Hardly, It’s the major actor. I know by the way I know first hand that in 2012 UN Secretary General Ban Kim Moon appointed former Secretary General Kofi Annan as Special Envoy to reach a peace in Syria. I loved Kofi Annan. I love Ban Kim Moon. I worked for both of them. Kofi Annan arranged a peace in 2012. He arranged a peace in Syria. You know why it didn’t happen? Because all the parties agreed to peace except one. Literally one. That was the United States of America. The United States of America said there will be no peace unless Bashar al-Assad goes the first day. The other parties said “No, no you can’t just determine that Maybe there’ll be a process. Maybe there’ll be elections agreed. Maybe there’ll be a two-year process, a three-year process.” The United States said “No Assad must go the first day of any agreement or we block it.”
And so Kofi Anann stepped down from his position after having negotiated a peace arrangement. And we have had 500,000 people dead since then. We should not allow this kind of criminality to be normal. This region has been at war non-stop for 30 years. Actually I would say for at least 57 years since the 6-day war because there has been no honest accounting of international law. No honest diplomacy. It’s been militarization all the way through. And we could have peace immediately in this region. All that is required in my view is the United States change its veto of Palestine as the 194th UN member state because on that basis all the region would normalize relations and the wars all across this region would stop. But Israel has had control of over US policy and it says No It wants Greater Israel. It wants Israel in Syria. It wants Israel in Lebanon. It wants Israel in the West Bank It wants Israel in East Jerusalem. It wants Israel in Gaza. And until that stops we’re not going to have peace. So is the US on the fence? Of course not. It’s the major protagonist of this whole war and has been for the last 14 years.
My name is Abdul Hameed Siam. I am a journalist for Alsabi .I am a former UN staff as well. And I want to ask you Mr. Sachs, that you just gave one explanation to what happened in Syria. It’s a conspiracy theory by the US. So the millions of Syrians who went to the street calling for the downfall of Bashar al Assad, they paid their price and Hamzib and all these young Syrians shouting in the street in millions they don’t count?
Yes,I agree There was a conspiracy, but not in the beginning. After maybe how they diverted the Arab Spring but the Arab people were fed up with these dictators and they went to the street not only in Syria but in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya, everywhere, in Yemen. But then the conspirators started their job then to divert it, to end up with this kind of ruthless dictator to say for people to say oh we’ have been better off under Gaddafi and under Mubarak and under. So how do you respond to that? Thank you…
I am not discussing the agency of the Syrian people. I’m discussing the opposite. Do not be naïve. Do not think that 600,000, 600,000 people died because of Assad and the protesters. This was a war. Wars are expensive. They require billions of dollars. They require armaments. And I’m not talking about a conspiracy theory. I’m talking about a conspiracy. And you should know. Everybody, go look up Operation Timber Sycamore. Understand what happened in your region. And if you think that calling in the CIA is going to do the bidding of agency in this region you are sadly mistaken.
This region has been manipulated by Britain, France, and the United States for 100 years, since the Versailles Treaty. It will not have safety or peace until the United States is out of this region through manipulation and war. You all say “Well it’s Israel doing this.” It’s the same thing I’m talking about. It’s the same reason for Operation Timber Sycamore. It’s not an independent fact. It’s the reason why this happened. I’m the last to denigrate agency. I’m telling you exactly the opposite. If you think your big friend the United States is going to do your bidding and help you get your way. Empires divide to rule. They are not doing the bidding of Turkey or Syria or Lebanon or anybody else in this region. And if this is yes you want to balance Persia or Iran, you call in the United States to do that and you think this is going to work out well, It’s not going to work out well. This region has three major powers. The Arab world the Turkish world and the Persian world. It’s been more than a thousand years this way. I said to Iranian diplomats that Iran has been 5,000 years I was corrected 7,000 years. It’s a long story. You don’t need the United States to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. And don’t believe that this happened because of agency of the Syrian people. I’m sorry I’m not denigrating the Syrian people, just the opposite, I know what happened. I know what my country does. I suspect most of you do too. And it should not be ignored because the wars are going to continue until we have real agency not pseudo agency. And by the way, there is no international community. We’re trying to make one but it doesn’t exist right now. That’s the tragedy in this world. There is no community. There are interests, there are militaries, there are regime change operations. This is not community. We need real community. And by the way, I give every day my volunteer time to the UN for 25 years because I believe in it. It’s my life commitment. So I believe in community. I also happen to know that the United States blocked the agreement in 2012. I’m sorry I won’t elaborate but the United States blocked it and I know it. Well I know it too Joe I know But I know it from Kofi…
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