Why Syria Intervention Plan Is Being Pushed by Oil Interests, Not Concern About Chemical Weapons

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http://www.alternet.org/world/syria-intervention-plan-fueled-oil-interests-not-chemical-weapon-concern


Photo taken August 21, 2013 shows an oil well near Tioga, North Dakota. New York oil rallied to the highest level for more than two years on Wednesday, with concerns about Middle East supplies intensifying as Western powers prepare for possible military a

August 30, 2013 |
On 21 August, hundreds - perhaps over a thousand - people were killed in a chemical weapon attack in Ghouta, Damascus, prompting the US, UK, Israel and France to raise the spectre of military strikes against Bashir al Assad's forces.

The latest episode is merely one more horrific event in a conflict that has increasingly taken on genocidal characteristics. The case for action at first glance is indisputable. The UN now confirms a death toll over 100,000 people, the vast majority of whom have been killed by Assad's troops. An estimated 4.5 million people have been displaced from their homes. International observers have overwhelmingly confirmed Assad's complicity in the preponderance of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Syrian people. The illegitimacy of his regime, and the legitimacy of the uprising, is clear.

Experts are unanimous that the shocking footage of civilians, including children, suffering the effects of some sort of chemical attack, is real - but remain divided on whether it involved military-grade chemical weapons associated with Assad's arsenal, or were a more amateur concoction potentially linked to the rebels.

Whatever the case, few recall that US agitation against Syria began long before recent atrocities, in the context of wider operations targeting Iranian influence across the Middle East.