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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'>Just as it happened in the case of Iraq, by allowing the issue to be framed as Should We or<br>Shouldn't We? or as Did They Use Sarin or Not? (with our intervention assumed if they did)<br>we starting the discussion having already yielded on the most important issue: The USA has<br>no legal right to wage war on countries that are not threatening us militarily<br><br>It is the United Nations' job to determine if humanitarian interests justify sending troops.<br>The USA has no legal right to do so on its own.<br><br>This principle was trashed when Bush and Blair invaded Afghanistan, ostensibly in a search<br>posse to capture Osama bin Laden, but soon revealing their agenda to overthrow the <br>Afghan government. According to Noam Chomsky, at the time of the invasion the USA had<br>no evidence that Osama had done 9/11, and the mission creep to overthrow the government <br>was "totally illegal" (here's a five-minute video).<br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mprzq1mA9Jk&list=UUCU5Ac7Vd7cqPk074nnKSTw&index=7" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mprzq1mA9Jk&list=UUCU5Ac7Vd7cqPk074nnKSTw&index=7</a><br><br>I don't remember any criticism of the Afghan invasion at the time, probably because the Taliban <br>government was despised around the world, but the law is supposed to protect the despised <br>as well as the respected.<br><br>Invasion of Syria, even for the best of reasons (yeah, right) would be illegal. It should not even<br>be discussed as an option.<br><br><br><br> <br><br>.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div><div id="SkyDrivePlaceholder"></div>> Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 11:47:14 -0700<br>> From: gerrygras@earthlink.net<br>> To: sosfbay-discuss@cagreens.org<br>> Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Should US get involved in Syria?<br>> <br>> <br>> Recent poll says 62% say no to intervention,<br>> 24% say yes.<br>> <br>> "Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, says that <br>> a growing push for war in Syria should remind US citizens of the <br>> invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was was largely fueled by an uncritical <br>> press and a barrage of false information by some of the same power <br>> brokers now pushing for intervention in Syria."<br>> <br>> "Americans Overwhelmingly Say 'No' to US Military Intervention in Syria"<br>> http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/05/01-7<br>> <br>> Gerry<br>> _______________________________________________<br>> sosfbay-discuss mailing list<br>> sosfbay-discuss@cagreens.org<br>> http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss<br></div> </div></body>
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