{"id":76439,"date":"2013-09-05T23:20:30","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T20:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=76439"},"modified":"2023-04-07T08:49:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T05:49:05","slug":"military-academy-graduates-oppose-bombing-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/09\/05\/military-academy-graduates-oppose-bombing-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"US Military Academy Graduates Oppose Bombing Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"content-wrapper\">\n<div id=\"contents-body\">\n<div id=\"contents\">\n<div class=\"wsite-elements wsite-not-footer\" id=\"wsite-content\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"wsite-image wsite-image-border-thin \" style=\"padding-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-76438\" alt=\"askeri akademi\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/askeri-akademi.jpg\" width=\"455\" height=\"196\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">U.S. SERVICE ACADEMY GRADUATES OPPOSE BOMBING\u00a0SYRIA<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">FLIMSY EVIDENCE, POLITICAL BOMBAST DRIVES YET\u00a0ANOTHER RECKLESS, IMMORAL WAR<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">&#8212;PRESS\u00a0RELEASE&#8212;<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: right;\">Contact: James C. Ryan, USMA\u00a01962<br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">jimryan62@yahoo.com<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<div class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong>NEW YORK \u2013 (September 4, 2013) \u2013<\/strong> Founded in \u00a02006\u00a0in reaction to the dishonorable and criminal \u00a0practices of the Bush administration regarding its attack on Iraq, U.S. service academy graduates, unified by two anti-war affiliated groups <\/span><\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> ,\u00a0oppose the Obama government\u2019s plan to bomb Syria. Its use of chemical weapons remains highly speculative, despite the usual political harangue. We fear that the same self-serving evidence combined with the same specious, expedient reasoning will lead to yet another immoral bombing campaign of death and destruction. And the majority of victims will again be innocent civilians, this time Syrians.<\/span><\/span><\/span>The president tries to sugarcoat its effects. He assures Americans that there will be no \u201cboots on the ground.\u201d But that doesn\u2019t mean there will be no crime, no murder, no slaughter. As in Iraq, there will be plenty of boot-less feet on the ground\u2026children\u2019s feet and their mothers\u2019, the feet of young men and women and\u00a0the feet of the old, innocent feet all. How many feet-on-the-ground were\u00a0destroyed in Iraq? We remember well the picture of the Iraqi girl in Basra whose\u00a0feet were obliterated along with her life. There were millions like her, maimed,\u00a0murdered, displaced from their homes, sent from this world. <strong>Millions!<\/strong> We oppose\u00a0that same deadly thinking and propaganda that brought chaos and death to the\u00a0Iraqis and many others. And now possibly to the Syrians.The relentless march to war is replete with demonization, self-righteous arrogance and bullying. The risk of committing war crimes on the civilian populations is high. We remember well the dissembling Colin Powell\u2019s performance. We oppose all efforts to launch an attack on Syria based on flimsy evidence and political bombast.Equally troubling is that, aside from proof that chemical weapons were indeed used, which no one disputes, there is little evidence that indicates the Syrian government did so. Logic alone would indicate that it did not. After all, why would the Syrian government invite the UN weapons inspectors to Damascus and then use chemical weapons a few days later. Nor does it make sense to use chemical weapons in an offensive operation as was being done at the time by the Syrian forces. If anything, given its motley nature, the opposition forces would seem to have the primary motive for using chemical weapons. They desperately needed the United States to intervene. And it has. Is Assad really so stupid?<\/p>\n<p>It is widely known that the United States, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have been sponsoring the insurgents in Syria. These opposition forces are composed of Jihadists, Islamist militias and elements of Al-Qaeda such as Jabhat al-Nusra. This comprises the so-called Free Syria Army, an army primarily of non-Syrians. Are\u00a0these the people, specializing in sectarian beheadings, rapes and murder, who\u00a0will inspire the Syrian people with democracy American style? Will they win the\u00a0hearts and minds of the people? Doubtful. In fact, this \u201carmy,\u201d rampaging about\u00a0like so many Hannibal Lectors, has actually eaten the hearts and livers of<br \/>\nstill-living Syrian citizens. This has not been mentioned in the stately halls of the U.S. Congress. It should be. If not now,\u00a0when?<\/p>\n<p>Talk abounds how the United States must act against the dictatorial brutality of using poison gas, yet unproven. Others say that the president\u2019s prestige and credibility are on the line. Therefore we must bomb Syria. And there are those who maintain that the United States must win over world opinion by standing firm against dictators. In our view, no matter what course is taken, to bomb or not to bomb, the United States loses. And as far as the \u201cmoral high ground?\u201d We remember well who helped Saddam Hussein launch his poison gas attacks against Iran. And we also remember Agent Orange.<\/p>\n<p>As long as the brutal tools of war are used to carry fear-filled olive branches, the US will\u00a0lose. There is no strategic or tactical or moral benefit to the United States for bombing Syria. For with all the shock and awe and terror and fear inevitably\u00a0comes loathing. Bombing an already chaotic situation is only a prescription for disaster and more loathing, much more. There is also the enormous risk of causing a vastly wider conflict. We refuse to accept another political adventure into the same carnage of war under the same tired misrepresentations and false-flag patriotism. We spoke out for the innocent victims of the Iraq war and today we speak for all the innocent Syrian victims past and perhaps to come. In all aspects, bombing Syria is exactly the wrong thing to do. Now is the time for dialogue not dynamite.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"wsite-image wsite-image-border-thin \" style=\"padding-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; text-align: center;\"><a>  <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Basra, Iraq, 24 March\u00a02003<br \/>\nMike\u00a0Moore, <em>The Daily Mirror<\/em>\u00a0(UK)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>Service Academy Graduates Against the War <\/em><\/strong>and\u00a0<strong><em>West Point Graduates Against The War<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0call on all graduates of United States service academies to speak out against\u00a0the continuation of the destruction of the honor of the United States and the<br \/>\ndissipation of its military. Membership is open to all alumni of the\u00a0United States service academies, and widows, widowers, parents, and children of\u00a0deceased graduates. Enrollment has\u00a0grown steadily and includes retired and active duty<br \/>\ngraduates.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; U.S. SERVICE ACADEMY GRADUATES OPPOSE BOMBING\u00a0SYRIA &nbsp; \u00a0FLIMSY EVIDENCE, POLITICAL BOMBAST DRIVES YET\u00a0ANOTHER RECKLESS, IMMORAL WAR &#8212;PRESS\u00a0RELEASE&#8212;\u00a0\u00a0 Contact: James C. Ryan, USMA\u00a01962 jimryan62@yahoo.com NEW YORK \u2013 (September 4, 2013) \u2013 Founded in \u00a02006\u00a0in reaction to the dishonorable and criminal \u00a0practices of the Bush administration regarding its attack on Iraq, U.S. service academy graduates, unified [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":782189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cem-ryan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}