If corporate media performance on Iraq was shocking, the response to Syria is made worse precisely because the lessons from Iraq could hardly be more obvious. We know how the Iraqi threat was demonised with hyped atrocity tales, invented links to al Qaeda and non-existent WMD. We know the West was all along the real threat, using diplomacy to achieve, not avoid, a war for control of Iraq and its oil. Despite this, and despite the clear need for scepticism regarding claims made about a Syrian government also being targeted by the West, the cartoonist Steve Bell – respected as a rare radical voice at the Guardian - recently produced this cartoon in response to a report commissioned by the Qatari government claiming that the Syrian government had systematically tortured and executed about 11,000 detainees since the start of the uprising. The cartoon suggests, not only that Syrian president Assad is personally responsible for the mass torture and deaths, but that he is proud of them. This demonisation of an Official Enemy recalls the crude state propaganda of the First World War. Consider the source of the claims depicted in Bells cartoon. The Guardian reports that Qatar has played a major role arming the rebels seeking to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, having played a central role in extending support to the Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. Noam Chomsky notes that arms have been flown in [to Syria] from Qatar by the CIA. Indeed, Qatar has close military ties to the US and UK, with forces armed and trained by the West. Qatar contains the principle overseas headquarters of the US militarys Central Command (CENTCOM) and was a key staging ground for the invasion of Iraq. In 2012, the US State Department reported that arms totalling $1.7 billion had been approved to Qatar in the previous fiscal year. Qatar has long been a dictatorship, an absolute monarchy - political parties are forbidden and there is no independent legislature. Amnesty International recently described how the authorities maintain strict control on freedom of expression. New cases of torture recently emerged in a country where migrant workers are exploited, abused and inadequately protected under the law. MH
Posted on: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:00:09 +0000
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