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Prof. Dr. Gul Celkan
Are we at the verge of another world war? Unjustifiable assumptions, baseless stories and accusations, crossfires….countries already taking sides in the advent of a new war—we do not need a soothsayer to tell us what’s awaiting us. The Middle East has been nothing but a black cauldron for almost three score years. Just as we assume everything has settled down, there breaks another skirmish. When will peace ever prevail in this area? Under the present circumstances, this looks like a very remote possibility.
Needless to say, there are many external factors that trigger unrest in the area, mainly the abundance of the natural resources, and perhaps as important if not more, the land dispute between Israel and Palestine.
Following the so-called “Arab Spring” which to my mind was the “Arab Uprising” provoked by external bodies began this most recent unrest in the region. Can anyone claim that complete stability has been established in these countries where the government heads were toppled? Some killed, some jailed.
The world focused it self now on Syria. The civil unrest or the civil-war has been continuing on for almost two years now. On one side, we have the Government, the legitimate Syrian Army and its supporters, while on the other side we have the rebels or the opposition. Isn’t it ironical that these two words are used to refer to the anti-Assad groups? If you refer to them as ‘rebels’ that implies you are not backing them; however, if you prefer labeling them as the ‘opposition’, the implication would be absolutely different.
Despite the opposing views not only with the American society and the Congress, the US President seems mostly inclined toward an intervention. Though he constantly says there will be no boots on the ground, that it will be a remotely controlled war using the US 6th fleet in the Mediterranean as the base for launching those Tomahawk missiles, who can guarantee there will be no retaliation? Even if any retaliation was not against the US armed forces, it could be against the countries who act as allies with the USA in this mission.
America could be a strong power but economically speaking, unfortunately things look very bleak. With a lot of people trying to survive on food stamps, with the crime rate going up due to unemployment, schools being shut down due to lack of financial resources, even an entire city like Detroit going bankrupt, how can the President still insist on striking Syria with these long range missiles which cost around $1million each?
There are about 600 military personnel who are all on alert now in the eastern Mediterranean waiting for the command, “fire!” Most of them would not even know why they are using these deadly missiles against human beings, and any mistake they may make in calculating the coordinates of their respective targets, would yield deadly consequences. They will be doing just what they are told, in fact they would be singing the “Waltzing Matilda” just like the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand did when they came to fight in Gallipoli. Conscripted to their respective armies at the age of fifteen, or sixteen, they were all put on boats to fight against an “enemy” they had no idea about in a very remote land.
These soldiers were drafted for the allied forces. They were mercenaries fighting for a cause unknown to them. When we compare the situation now to those times, we again see a foreign military coming to fight in foreign soil for a cause that is known by the top authorities but not by those who do the backstage work. Interestingly enough, all their expenses will be covered by the Saudis. How can Obama and his government proudly say this mission will not have a financial toll on the country’s economy? What about lives that may be lost? Can money bring those lives back?
The Saudi government will be paying all the expenses of the American military in the eastern Mediterranean; there is only one translation of this: that they are using the US military personnel as “mercenaries” or to put it more abruptly as “contract killers”? Saudis said Arabs cannot kill other Arabs, and hence they are using the US military to kill Assad and his supporters.
Don’t fall into this trap , and don’t sing the “Waltzing Matilda” in the end.