Obama, Brits Have Started
a 'Piecemeal' World War III
by Jeffrey Steinberg
Sept. 14—Last week, President Barack Obama took a series of steps that, unless checked, will lead to more wars in Eurasia, a process that Pope Francis has labeled "piecemeal" World War III.
As Lyndon LaRouche has stressed, the only way to stop this warmongering, including against Russia, from leading to world conflagration, is the immediate commencement of impeachment proceedings against the President, whom the British are counting on to carry out their imperial strategy. A Congressional debate is not sufficient to deter a President who has consistently violated the U.S. Constitution, and believes he can continue to do so, with impunity.
On Sept. 10, Obama delivered a prime time television address, in which he spelled out his plans for a war to destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), while, at the same time, maintaining his commitment to back Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow the Assad government. This "mission impossible" has drawn sharp criticism from a wide range of military specialists and and Members of Congress from across the political spectrum.
Obama's war plan included $500 million in new aid to the Syrian rebels, and the establishment of new training bases in Saudi Arabia. The President declared that he would be ordering military actions against Islamic State (IS) forces inside Syria without the permission of the Assad government, and without authorization for this new war from Congress. He also claimed that he would accomplish all of this without deploying American "combat boots on the ground."
Both the Russian and Chinese governments immediately warned that any military action within Syria, without permission of the Assad government, would constitute a violation of international law, and greatly worsen the situation.
The Saudi Angle
According to a Sept. 13 account in the Washington-based publication Politico, the war plan was heavily influenced by the Saudis. Lisa Monaco, the counter-terrorism advisor at the White House, was in Saudi Arabia on Sept. 6, and received a commitment from the Kingdom to house new training facilities to accelerate the fielding of a viable Free Syrian Army. On the basis of the Saudi pledge, the President made his Sept. 10 announcement.
The reliance on the Saudis alone is a fatal flaw that has been characteristic of both Bush administrations, and now, the Obama Administration. That anyone would trust the Saudis, who played a crucial role in the 9/11 atrocity against the United States, and in the creation of ISIS, is worse than absurd.
Even as President Obama was touting the support of Sunni Arab states for his new Crusade against the Islamic State, the President was coming under scathing attack for refusing to declassify 28 pages from the original Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 that documented direct Saudi complicity in the attacks (see Feature).
On Sept. 9, Congressmen Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) held a press conference with representatives of the 9/11 families to reiterate their demand that President Obama declassify the 28 pages, and open the books on Saudi complicity in jihadist terrorism, including the recent actions of the Islamic State. One of the 9/11 family members repeatedly called President Obama a liar, for having broken his promise to the families to release the 28 pages.
Former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who co-chaired the Joint Congressional Inquiry, told the Independent on Sept. 14 that Obama's refusal to release the 28 pages has enabled Saudi Arabia to continue to build up Sunni jihadist forces, including IS/ISIS.
Yet Secretary of State John Kerry has been on a tour of Southwest Asia and the Persian Gulf drumming up Arab support for the war on IS. In a supreme act of disrespect for the 9/11 families, Kerry, under Obama's orders, was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 11, the anniversary of the 2001 attack, supposedly lining up support for the military operations in Syria and Iraq. Kerry and Obama have excluded cooperation with Iran or Syria in the war on the Islamic State, despite the fact that their exclusion virtually assures that the British-led drive for perpetual Sunni versus Shi'ite confrontation will go forward.
From the British standpoint, the goal was never to wipe out the Islamic State. The goal was to launch a permanent population war in the heart of Eurasia, to block any potential for the Eurasian Land-Bridge/New Silk Road plans of the BRICS. The same 19th-Century British geopolitics that led to two world wars during the 20th Century is underlying the drive for war in Southwest Asia today.
Russia Targeted
The same week that President Obama was escalating his war in Iraq and Syria, he announced new sanctions against Russia that aim to shut the Russians out of the international financial system altogether. Make no mistake: Sanctions are an act of war.
Sanctions against certain Russian banks, energy firms, and high-technology companies were simultaneously announced by Obama and by the heads of state and government of the European Union on Sept. 12, despite strong objections by several European governments. The sanctions were not only immediately characterized by Russian officials as acts of war, but Russia has made clear that it will respond with asymmetric counter-sanctions that will be measured, but devastating, against the collapsing economies of Western Europe.
President Vladimir Putin also announced that he was significantly expanding investments into Russia's military industries, and would chair a new commission to supervise that buildup.
While Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron were continuing to put out the delusional line that the sanctions were succeeding in isolating Russia, the Russians were deepening their economic collaboration with the BRICS countries and others. On Sept. 12, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its annual conference, where plans were being finalized for another new development bank, an SCO Bank. The SCO meeting announced plans to formally incorporate India and Pakistan as full members in 2015, broadening the security cooperation to cover all of Central Asia, South Asia, Russia, and China. Once international sanctions are lifted against Iran, the Islamic Republic will also be granted full membership in the SCO.
The sane option for the United States would be to cooperate with the SCO in conducting a competent campaign to weaken and eventually destroy the Islamic State. That would entail working with both Iran and Syria.
Such a sane option remains impossible so long as Obama remains in office as President, and this reality is becoming more and more evident.
