On Saturday afternoon, between 4 o’clock and 6, you are invited to join Arab Americans 4 Syria, Answer LA and other groups at the Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, for a rally against U.S. and Israeli intervention in Syria.
Why we are demonstrating:
Israel, with the backing of the Obama administration, recently has carried out major bombings of Syria. Israel receives $4 billion a year from the United States (the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid) and acts as a proxy for and an extension of U.S. military power in the Middle East.
For the past two years, the CIA has coordinated massive weapons shipments from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to armed groups in Syria, fueling a civil war. More than 80,000 people have died and Syria has been ripped apart.
As under President Bush, President Obama’s policy is to carry out regime change against independent and nationalist governments in this oil-rich region. The invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S.-backed Israeli war in Lebanon in 2006, the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya, the now-escalating war against Syria and the growing threats against Iran are part of a coordinated regional effort by the United States, Britain and France to dominate the resources and land of an area that was once considered a prime prize of Western colonial domination and plunder.
As with all wars of aggression, the imperialist powers have perfected a propaganda cover that describes lofty motives to their intervention in the Middle East – “eliminating weapons of mass destruction” or “protecting civilians” or “fighting the war on terror” or “fighting for democracy.”
The U.S. government cuts basic services and has eliminated hundreds of thousands of public sector workers jobs in the last three years because of “budget shortages,” but spends limitless funds in carrying out wars of aggression.
Click here to read the full ANSWER statement on why we must oppose any intervention in Syria.
Ms. Varjabedian may be contacted at irenav@mail.com
