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by Justin Raimondo Posted on December 05, 2012
\nAntiwar.com<\/p>\n
The Moment had arrived! I\u2019m talking about that\u00a0Benghazi Moment<\/a>, when the axis of elite opinion turns and the\u00a0Forces of Righteousness<\/a>\u00a0come to the rescue \u2014\u00a0Syria\u2019s internet was down<\/a>!<\/p>\n Rachel Maddow had one of those \u201cOh, This is Serious\u201d looks on her face as she solemnly\u00a0warned us<\/a>\u00a0that Something Was Up: that nasty old critter Bashar al-Assad was about to commit Hair-Raising Atrocities \u201cin the dark\u201d! Think of those poor\u00a0jihadists\u00a0<\/span>\u201crebels<\/a>\u201d who would have to construct their\u00a0suicide bombs<\/a>without downloading the instructions \u2014 why, that could be dangerous!<\/p>\n Of course, Maddow\u00a0knew<\/i>\u00a0who was behind this outage, because the US government told her what to believe, and she believed it. So in place of reporting, you know,\u00a0actual news<\/i>, she channeled US government officials accusing the Syrian government of this dastardly act. \u201cThe worry is that the Syria government has made that country go dark, so that under cloak of darkness they can do something to their own people that they are unwilling to have people see in the light.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, the drama! The sheer power of the narrative! Where\u2019s Richard Engel when you really need him?!<\/p>\n Those same officials informed her \u2014 yes, she has\u00a0good connections<\/a>! \u2014 that the US government, in its infinite wisdom, had\u00a0foreseen<\/i>\u00a0this eventuality and sent 2,000 \u201ccommunication kits\u201d to the darling rebels, including computers capable of bypassing the dastardly Syrian government, enabling them to tweet the next suicide bombing. Which just goes to show, as Rachel has always\u00a0assured us<\/a>, how well central planning works!<\/p>\n That only an idiot would believe a country wracked by war would be immune to a major internet outage \u2014 or that the rebels (or their\u00a0US government sponsors<\/a>) had nothing to do with the outage \u2014 is not something Maddow has to worry about: her audience, like the audience over at rival Fox News, is\u00a0primed<\/a>\u00a0to accept what their News Icons tell them, no matter how implausible.<\/p>\n In any case, the Syrian internet was restored less than 48 hours later \u2014 although, for some reason, I still\u00a0can\u2019t access<\/a>\u00a0the official Syrian government news agency \u2014 and, lo and behold, even though the dastardly Syrian government had\u00a0two whole days<\/i>\u00a0in which to \u201cdo something to their own people that they are unwilling to have people see in the light,\u201d nothing happened. A big nothing!<\/p>\n Oh, but\u00a0wait<\/i>\u00a0\u2026!<\/p>\n Two days later, our Rachel was \u201creporting<\/a>\u201d the imminence of yet\u00a0another<\/i>Benghazi Moment \u2014 the Syrians, she breathlessly recounted, have Weapons of Mass Destruction! Without referencing her previous false alarm, Maddow once again solemnly informed us the evil Syrian government was about to visit Death and Destruction \u201con its own people\u201d \u2014 you know, just like Saddam Hussein, that other possessor of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Because, you see,\u00a0the Syrians have poison gas<\/i>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0sarin and mustard gas<\/a>, primarily \u2014 and US government officials are noting \u201cunusual movements\u201d near these sites.<\/p>\n Is it really necessary to point out the completely nonsensical aspect of this allegation? Aside from provoking direct Western military intervention, the release of various weaponized toxins would poison the ground water and wreak havoc with the very country Assad still pretends to rule. The Syrians have\u00a0denied<\/a>\u00a0any plans to unleash their chemical weapons. Maddow doubts the veracity of this statement, however, due to the fact that the Syrian government spokesman who announced it has since fled the country. Is it just possible he might be fleeing rebel reprisals rather than an imminent bout of chemical warfare?<\/p>\n Maddow\u2019s\u00a0source<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0Wired<\/i>\u2019s \u201cDanger Room,\u201d a piece by fellow Obamaite (and \u201cJournolist<\/a>\u201d) Spencer Ackerman and Noah Shachtman, who cite a faceless government \u201cofficial\u201d \u2014 possibly the same anonymous official who blamed the Syrians for the internet outage.<\/p>\n Not that the US government would ever tell a lie \u2014 why, hush my mouth and hope to die!<\/p>\n The left-wing of the War Party has been\u00a0champing at the bit<\/a>\u00a0for the past few months, waiting for that Benghazi Moment to occur in Syria \u2014 a moment when they could get up on their hind legs and demand US intervention. Imagine the question coming up at Susan Rice\u2019s Senate confirmation hearing: oh, the drama, as Rice out-hawks John McCain!<\/p>\n This is what the liberal-progressive elites are just itching for: an overseas \u201cvictory\u201d to match \u2014 and crown \u2014 the one they thrilled to on election night. A new overseas crusade would give their gloating triumphalism a properly martial air, one befitting a party whose 2016 standard-bearer is likely to be\u00a0Hillary Clinton<\/a>. Still\u00a0unrepentant<\/a>\u00a0in her support for the Iraq war, the outgoing Secretary of State is the undisputed leader of the party\u2019s hawk faction, now that Joe Lieberman is gone. And make no mistake about it:\u00a0she\u2019s running<\/a>.<\/p>\n Having long ago\u00a0ditched<\/a>\u00a0opposition to militarism and empire-building in favor of identity politics, much of the American left has been hornswoggled into supporting the\u00a0Libyan<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Syrian<\/a>\u00a0\u201crevolutions,\u201d in spite of \u2014 or, in some cases, because of \u2014 Washington\u2019s backing. The Vietnam era peaceniks of yesteryear, who have long since joined the Democratic party and gone into real estate, are merely extending their do-gooding instincts internationally. The partisan hacks of MSNBC are another matter: they are\u00a0outright government propagandists<\/a>, at least for the next four years.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why, when they start in on a certain subject, it\u2019s important to sit up and take notice. If, night after night, ol\u2019 Rachel is waving her arms about in a frenzy over yet another Benghazi Moment, it\u2019s safe to assume something is up.<\/p>\n The US has made\u00a0no secret<\/a>\u00a0of its support to the rebels, whose best fighting troops are\u00a0radical Islamists<\/a>, including\u00a0at least two<\/a>\u00a0groups claiming Syria\u2019s al-Qaeda franchise. Although the search for a pretext continues, direct US military intervention has so far been ruled out. Amongst the Washington foreign policy cognoscenti, however, the demand for a replay of the Libyan \u201clead from behind\u201d campaign is getting louder, and on this the \u201cprogressives<\/a>\u201d and the\u00a0neocons<\/a>\u00a0agree:\u00a0on to Damascus!<\/i><\/p>\n Both wings of the War Party \u2014 Fox News as well as MSNBC \u2014 are primed and ready for the next chapter in our history entitled \u201cThe Road to World War III.\u201d What we are seeing in the Syrian regime-change operation is but a dress rehearsal \u2014 a trip-wire meant for poor old hapless Uncle Sam to stumble into war with Iran.<\/p>\n Such a war could not be contained. Just as the Syrian civil war on the ground is a religious war, pitting\u00a0Sunni against Alawites<\/a>\u00a0(a \u201cheretical\u201d Muslim sect) and Christians of\u00a0various denominations<\/a>, so war with Iran would set off a global Muslim civil war, pitting Shia against Sunni. It would also bring in every regional actor, and, in that sense at least, would qualify as a third world war.<\/p>\n The Iranians have so far resisted the temptation of allowing themselves to be drawn into the Syrian inferno, but the longer it goes on the more it becomes a proxy war.<\/p>\n Quite apart from the incalculable human costs, the\u00a0economic consequences<\/a>alone should be enough to rule out another war in the Middle East, at least as far as any Washington rational decision-maker is concerned. The rising price of oil is largely impelled by the market\u2019s fear level when it comes to the prospect of war in the Gulf: if war comes, the oil shock could conceivably throw us into the sort of major market meltdown we experienced in November of \u201908 \u2014 or worse.<\/p>\n