YORIKIRII
(This article was first published at Yorikirii’s blog – in the mind of yorikirii)
I always knew that bombing Libya and killing Gaddafi was a mistake. Dictators are here for a reason. Only they are capable, through their ruthless characters and their sledgehammer actions, to hold a country together, to keep its people at bay and to save the rest of the world from any possible harm emanating from their fearful subjects.
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The United States learned a hard lesson on September 11 (again!) 2012 when their ambassador to Libya was killed in Benghazi, by a mob of grizzly Islamists storming the consulate. The reason for their rage: an anti-Islamic movie produced in Los Angeles, by a bunch of nutheads, disseminated via YouTube.
A bunch of nutheads producing movies in California? You are not talking about Hollywood, are you? If the best the American movie industry is able to roll out is Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair, we are in for a rough ride. In my current location Lebanon, wanting to go see a movie is a frustrating endevaour: the cinemas in and around Beirut are filled with American mindbuster productions such as “The Dark Knight Rises” (ok, director Christopher Nolan is an asset), the Stallone/van Damme flick “The Expendables” (nomen est omen) and the twentieth reincarnation of a Bourne movie, this time called “The Bourne Legacy”. When an US ambassador is killed every time a stupid movie is made in the USA, this job will be the most risky job on earth!
The United States, together with their European partners, oust Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and get their ambassador killed. The United States, together with their Wahhabi companion Saudi Arabia, oust Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen and get an al-Qaeda comeback in this country. Power politics can be so ungrateful! How will these experiences shape the future US policy towards Syria? Gaddafi and Saleh were controlling the tribes and imprisoned the Islamists. The Assads, father and son, controlled the religions in Syria and imprisoned anybody they didn’t like. They occupied Lebanon for 30 years and regulated the flow of arms from Iran to Hezbollah. But the US ambassador is Damascus was safe.
Everything that happens in Syria happens because of Iran. Iran must be stopped when trying to establish a Shia arch from Mashhad to Naqoura. At any price. Even at the price of lifting an Islamist government into power in Damascus? Even at the price of having another dead US ambassador? Naturally, the Iranians are the Americans of the Middle East. They share the same arrogance and the same feeling of not getting enough love for all the good intentions they have. So why do the Americans fight the Iranians? If you can’t beat them, deal with them! The USA wants a partner for a stable Middle East? This must be Iran, not Israel. The Iranians are eager to be recognized as an important player. They have the brains and the cultural background to play this role. And their ambitions make them vulnerable for a bad deal without even realizing it.
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For a long time, the United States have placed security over freedom when looking at the Middle East. One “mission accomplished” bombing campaign in Libya cannot change this perception. He who will come to power through violence will rule with violence. After their ambassador was killed, what will the US do next: bomb Libya again? Instead of giving the Syrian opposition some basic lectures in politics, the US and their allies support the Islamist infested Free Syrian Army with weapons to shoot Assad from power. Even when the FSA were able to do so (which they are not): this is a short remedy against Iran, not a long term health care plan for Syria. There are no political lessons learned in this and no democratic values to come out of this.
But then again: are some people not worthy of being liberated from dictatorship? The same folks that demand to express their ideas freely, that want an end to their regimes’ mind control and a closure of all political prisons, are now asking for a government controlled film production in the USA. This is some weird thinking. It will take decades of education, enlightenment and exposure to uncomfortable opinions to delevop a broad minded approach to today’s complex world. Until then, your local dictator knows best!
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