Turkey: US Imperial Tool

by Stephen Lendman

In 1999, Nobel laureate/outspoken anti-war critic Harold Pinter minced no words denouncing NATO’s Yugoslavia war.  “Let us face the truth,” he said. “The truth is that neither Clinton nor Blair gives a damn about the Kosovar Albanians. This action has been another blatant and brutal assertion of US power using NATO as its missile.”

“It set out to consolidate one thing – American domination Europe. This must be fully recognized and it must be resisted.”

Obama’s using Turkey as its missile against Syria. Both countries share a common border. CIA elements infest the region.

They’re very much involved in Turkey. They’re recruiting, arming, training and directing insurgent fighters. They’re likely doing it on both sides of the border. In June 2012, The New York Times headlined “CIA Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition,” saying:

Operating covertly from southern Turkey, CIA operatives are “decid(ing) which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers.” Weapons supplied include “automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition, (and) antitank weapons….”

They’re smuggled across Turkey’s border through “a shadowy network of intermediaries….”  Turkey’s a NATO country. It’s a reliable imperial partner. It has its own regional ambitions. It’s Washington’s lead attack dog against Syria.

The aftermath of Saturday’s Reyhanli’s bombings bears watching. Turkey blamed Syria. It did so straightaway. No evidence whatever proves it. Accusations don’t wash.  Staged arrests were made. We’ve seen it all before. The pattern looks very familiar. It has a distinct aroma. It heads things closer to full-scale intervention. It’s been heading that way all along.

It’s unimaginable that Syria was responsible in Reyhanli. Involvement would be clearly self-defeating. The incident has all the earmarks of a Turkish and/or CIA false flag. Perhaps Al Qaeda, Al Nusra or other extremist elements were used.

Intensified violence sabotages peaceful conflict resolution. Washington wants Syria’s government toppled. It wants a subservient pro-Western regime replacing it.  Negotiations won’t achieve longstanding plans. Governments don’t voluntarily surrender. They don’t accede to their own dismemberment. They have to be pushed or destroyed.  Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s heading to Washington. On May 16, he and Obama will meet. Syria tops the agenda. Perhaps war plans will be discussed. Maybe they’ll be finalized. Obama’s been tiptoeing toward it incrementally.

Erdogan said “(w)hoever targets Turkey will sooner or later pay the price.” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on “the international community to act together against” Syria. Reyhanli-type provocations provide pretexts to intervene. US-backed insurgents are no match against Syria’s military superiority. Without air power, they’re consistently defeated. NATO made the difference in Libya. Obama may launch air strikes against Syria. Perhaps doing so is a major false flag away. Reyhanli’s so far the most provocative one. Something bigger may be planned.

Syria’s going all out to avoid direct foreign intervention. Reyhanli was a staged anti-Assad provocation. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi denounced it.  “Any accusation against Syria in any statement, (whether) explicit or implicit, by any Turkish official is completely rejected,” he said.

Turkey bears full responsibility, he added. Erdogan turned border areas into “international terrorist concentrations.”  He facilitates the delivery of weapons, munitions, funding and terrorists into Syria. He’s doing it complicit with Washington, key NATO partners and regional allies.

We’ve had “problems with Turkey (for) hundreds of years, yet Syria…has never acted this way or done such an act. It’s not because we can’t, but because the way we were raised and our morals, conduct and values don’t allow us to do such a thing,” he added.

“Why should the bombings in Turkey take place days before Erdogan meeting Obama?”

“Is it that (he) wants to show off and say he has enough power to intervene in Syria?”

“Does Erdogan want to foil the Russian-US efforts to hold an international conference?”

“I ask Erdogan to step down as a murderer and blood shedder, and I say to him that that it’s not his right to brag out his glories at the expense of the blood of the Turks and the Syrians.”

During a Friday Security Council session, Syria’s Permanent UN Representative Bashar al-Jaafari also minced no words. He’s consistently outspoken. He explains what needs to be said. The Syria Arab News Agency (SANA) said he called countries involved in “arming, funding, training and harboring terrorists and facilitating their entry into Syria partners in terrorism and complicit in taking Syrian lives.”

He “wondered how terrorism, vandalism, the targeting of hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches, civilians airplanes and diplomatic missions, the theft of factories, the assassination and abduction of religious figures, the robbery and vandalism of antiquities and museums, desecrating tombs and abducting UNDOF peacekeeping forces can be in the interest of Syria and Syrians.”

He noted that some countries that denounce terrorism actively aid, abet, facilitate and commit it.

He called on Security Council members to hold them accountable. He knows they won’t. Permanent members America, Britain and France are directly responsible. They’re imperial partners in crime. They’re allied against Syria.  Russia’s trying to end conflict. It wants all sides involved in diplomatic negotiations to do it. Perhaps it’s doing more.

A previous article discussed Mossad-connected DEBKA file (DF) saying it plans to supply Syria with sophisticated long range S-300 surface-to-air missile systems. They’re able to take out invading aircraft with precision.

On May 12, DF headlined “Russia staffs Mediterranean fleet. Turkey weighs payback for Syrian bombings.”

Russian Admiral Viktor Chirkov was cited. He said a permanent staff will run Russian Mediterranean-based fleet operations. Five to six warships will be involved. Nuclear submarines may be deployed. According to DF, “(t)he new permanent deployment is the next Russian step for safeguarding Bashar Assad’s regime in Damascus and deterring military attacks on his Hezbollah allies and Iranian interests in their three-way bloc.”

“Moscow is also announcing loud and clear that Russia is finally restoring its military presence to the Middle East in 2013 after the last Soviet squadron exited the Mediterranean in 1992.”

Chirkov’s announcement followed Saturday’s Reyhanli bombings. Moscow’s perhaps concerned “that Ankara was preparing to deliver a serious reprisal, possibly in the form of an aerial or missile assault, on Syrian military targets.”

Doing so would follow Israel’s May 4 and 5 attacks. Perhaps a Washington-orchestrated scheme plans incrementally upping the stakes toward full-scale intervention.  On Sunday, Israeli warplanes again overflew south Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley near Syria’s border. Doing so was provocative short of launching more attacks.

Maybe they’re planned. Perhaps a joint Israeli/Turkish operation is forthcoming. It would advance things closer to all-out war. Events suggest it’s coming. How and when remains to be seen. Post-9/11, Washington planned regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. Wars are America’s strategy of choice.

Syria’s now targeted. US-orchestrated proxy war rages. Escalation appears planned. Full-scale war could erupt any time.

A Final Comment

On May 12, Hurriyet.com.tr/gundem published a report in Turkish suggesting Ankara authorities knew on April 23 about three bomb-laden cars in Syria’s insurgent-held Raqqa heading for Turkey.

Apparently they were allowed to proceed to Reyhanli. It suggests Turkey’s involvement in Saturday’s bombings.

A choppy translation reads as follows:

“MIT (Turkish National Intelligence),  the city of Raqqa, Syria on April 23 suspects in three car bomb attacks in Turkey has been installed and plans, bombers Gaziantep, Hatay and Sanliurfa determined the three border crossing can use.”

“Intelligence report prepared by the action of vehicles waiting for instructions, so it was stated that Turkey is not clear in hours of action. Allegedly, the police, the gendarmerie and the MIT shared the information provided.”

“Then, the three vehicle models and brands of the border crossings were warned to be sensitive to. 2 Reyhanli daki attack is determined by assessing the three vehicles, the trace can not be reached 3rd alarm was given to the vehicle.”

“February 11 after the explosion at the border crossing point Cilvegozu sent ghost screening tool. Trucks of x-ray equipment in the car, or if it is suspected explosive display capable of passing through the sides of the cars.”

“Therefore, even if there is no security cameras instead of bombs Cilvegozu vehicles are often used by the Syrians entered Turkey from the border crossing Yayladagi bandied about.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.  His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.