Joe Iosbaker, an activist with the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, was asked to address the meeting and comment on what he witnessed in Homs, where he was stationed as an observer.

Iosbaker told attendees, “In Homs we saw, first, the tragedy and horror of the U.S.-backed armies. We spoke with survivors and saw the photos of 900 martyrs.

“Second, we saw the triumph of the people, as hundreds rallied in each neighborhood and surged into the polling places to cast their ballot.

“Third, we witnessed Sawa, the coming together of the people, the parties and the leader of the country, President Bashar al Assad.

“Fourth, we were drawn into the warm embrace of the Syrian people, we danced debka and we put our fingers in ink as a symbol of solidarity.

“We will return home to bring to the American people what we saw, the truth of a democratic election, a constitution that is popular and a president who is being given the mandate by the people of Syria: to defeat the imperialist U.S., NATO, Zionist aggression; to reconstruct the country, and to heal a people who have suffered this vicious intervention.

“At this time, I want to say that the Syrian people represent that which is best, most noble and most beautiful of humanity: resistance to injustice, to war and occupation. You take your place with the people of Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently Ukraine, in the long pantheon of heroic peoples.

“Long live Syria! End the war now! U.S./NATO, hands off Syria!”

#DamascusSyria #Damascus #AntiwarMovement #Elections #Syria #JoeIosbaker #USImperialism #AntiWarCommitteeChicago #basharAlassad #MiddleEast

Damascus, Syria – Ten people from the U.S., Canada and Ireland have traveled to Syria to observe the presidential elections taking place here June 3. Our delegation is mainly anti-war and international solidarity activists who are members of organizations including the International Action Center, Syria Solidarity Committee, the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, the United National Antiwar Coalition and the International Solidarity Movement. We are hosted by a Iranian non-governmental organization, the International Union of Unified Ummah (Muslim community).

Since arriving in Damascus yesterday, we’ve had several meetings with officials and experts to get an understanding of the elections and what’s at stake. Our first meeting was with Dr. Bassam Abu Abdallah, a local member of the nationalist Baath Party and director of the Damascus Security Center. He talked about how this will be the first multi-party election for president. The rules of the election were established in a new constitution voted on last year.

The three candidates on the ballot were selected from an initial list of 24. The requirements to run include being Syrian, having lived in the country for at least the last ten years, and having the endorsement of 35 members of the national assembly. Previously, the Baath Party was constitutionally the only party that could lead the government. This change was a big concession to demands raised by the protests in the Arab Spring in 2011.

Dr. Abu Abdallah was asked if the elections would have an effect on the armies fighting the government. He answered yes, that it will demoralize them, saying, “First, they see that the U.S. won’t send troops. They’re tired of fighting and they have no vision, other than dying and going to paradise.”

As with the liberation of the Old City in Homs, the mercenaries can see the writing on the wall. “First we put them under siege. The foreign-backed armies previously had perhaps 500,000 with them. Now they have only 100,000. Our soldiers in the Syrian Arab Army [SAA] will continue to fight until the last centimeters of land,” Abdullah added.

Election commission

On the second day, we met with the election commission. Hasham Al Shaher, the commission head, told us we were free to go where we wanted to observe at the polling places. Some will go to Homs, or Atakia and others will stay in Damascus.

He explained that the commission is independent of the administration and appointed to four-year terms. People over 18 years of age (15 million people) are eligible to vote. All that is needed to vote is to be a citizen and to have an ID. No one is required to register in advance.

The Western media was stunned when hundreds of thousands of refugees turned out to vote in Beirut in neighboring Lebanon. It turns out that the commissioners were surprised by the turnout as well. As a result, many thousands were turned away. The Lebanese authorities told them if they returned to Syria to vote, they’d be denied re-entry into Lebanon.

The outpouring was overwhelmingly people wanting to vote for the current president, Bashar al Assad. Coming from people displaced by the war, this was a clear message of opposition to the so-called rebels. Commissioner Al Shaher said, “This shows the insistence and nationalist feelings of the Syrians. Over 95% of those eligible registered to vote.”

Speaker of the Parliament

Speaker of the Parliament Jihad Laham described the political situation they are facing with this war. “We take issue with the criminal American policy to Syria and Palestine. China and Russia have used their veto power to stop the criminal war, while the U.S. has used their veto power 60 times to shield Israel.”

“Unfortunately,” he continued, “we live in dog eat dog times, where the powerful eat the less powerful.” He explained that they had invited parliamentarians to see the truth, but U.S. and NATO governments pressured them not to. “The U.S. is partnered with Saudi Arabia, which has no elections.”

He told us, “Most of the organizations fighting have extreme Islamic orientation. Syria has survived because we are in the right.” The speaker related some of the features of the social program of the government. “Basic food is subsidized: two kilos of bread is less than 10 cents. Education is free. Health care is free. Fuel is subsidized.”

Returning to the countries behind the war, he continued, “Where did the rebels get their weapons? From neighbors with the support of the U.S. and NATO.”

Regarding the moment of the chemical weapon attack last summer that was President Obama’s ‘red line,’ upon which he threatened to hit Syria with hundreds of cruise missiles, the speaker said, “Syria had requested the U.N. to investigate a sarin gas attack in March 2013. It took three months for the inspection committee to arrive, and just then, there was another attack in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta.”

He denied the use of sarin by the government forces, noting, “The SAA is victorious daily; why would we need sarin?”

A question was asked about U.S. objectives and next steps after the election. Laham replied, “The U.S. plan is unchangeable, but sometimes they are forced to delay.” This helped make it clear to the anti-war forces in the room that we had to return to the U.S. and educate people about what we learn from the elections, in order to win people to taking a stand against the U.S. war which has already killed as many as 160,000 people.

#DamascusSyria #Damascus #AntiwarMovement #Elections #AntiWarCommittee #Syria #JoeIosbaker #USImperialism #basharAlassad #MiddleEast

As anti-war/anti-intervention activists, we need to oppose any kind of U.S. attack on Syria. The Obama administration has been trying to sell this war to the American people by claiming it will be a short volley of cruise missile strikes with no boots on the ground. Claims of a “short war” rest on the assumptions that the Syrian government will not respond at all to being bombed and on the idea that U.S. objectives (regime change) will be achieved without further attacks. Hundreds if not thousands will die and nothing good will come of it.

On chemical weapons and red lines:

President Obama is arguing that the government of Syria has crossed a so-called “red line” by using chemical weapons in Syria. This has a number of problems. There is absolutely no evidence or confirmation that Syria’s government carried out the alleged chemical attack. Doctors Without Borders admits that its report is based not on their own investigation, but on reports they received from a Syrian rebel group. It is not logical for the Syrian government to have used chemical weapons, given that they were having success in the conflict, and that UN weapons inspectors were in Syria only ten miles from where the attack took place. We can’t forget how we were lied to about WMD’s in Iraq.

The notion that there is a “red line” that no one is allowed to cross is cynical at the core. Iraq is saturated with cancer causing depleted uranium from U.S. bombs. The U.S. military used the chemical weapon white phosphorus in Fallujah and Israel used white phosphorus in Gaza in a manner that violates the Geneva Convention. Chemical weapons are pretext to do what the U.S. government, weapons manufacturers, Israel, and the Saudi ruling class wants to do – bomb Syria.

Honest and good people have found themselves confused about Syria. There are people who feel powerless and just wish the bloodshed would stop. Some feel that military action will make them feel better. They instead need to be asking if military action and more bloodshed improve the situation in Syria. The clear answer is no.

No blood for oil??

While Syria doesn't have much oil, there is a whole lot of it in the neighborhood. The conflict in Syria has been ongoing because it is being used as a geopolitical chess piece by the West. The point of the attack is to defeat Syria so the U.S. can next move onto Iran and strike at other forces that are opposed to U.S domination.

Syria’s real ‘crime’ is to remain independent, ignoring the agenda of U.S. empire in the Middle East and befriending the patriotic peoples of Iran, Lebanon and Palestine. The U.S. speaks of chemical weapons, hoping that we have forgotten their plan for ‘regime change’ in Syria. The U.S. government has no right to determine who should lead the Syrian government. Beyond just openly calling for the Syrian president to be thrown out, the U.S. has already given more than a billion dollars’ worth of battlefield support to the Syrian opposition.

Devastating Syria with hundreds of cruise missiles or bombs will only make it harder for the Syrian people to exercise self-determination. Only the Syrian people themselves can decide their own future. The continued escalation of U.S. involvement in Syria and the Middle East makes a lasting peace impossible. As anti-war activists we should not call for the great powers to lead negotiations on a settlement of the conflict in Geneva or anywhere else to solve Syria’s problems.

We're opposed to war. We represent. We are the 91%!

Working people are weary of the blood and treasure expended to benefit military contractors while we have problems like foreclosures and student debt. In the face of real hardship at home, including cuts to food stamps and Head Start, our bankrupt government is spending our resources to fight the people of Syria, who have more in common with us than we have with Obama.

Politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, represent the interests of U.S. imperialism and are trying to push us toward war. The anti-war movement represents the vast majority. 91% of the American people agree with us. We need to mobilize people to demonstrate and show that we don't want to be dragged into another war. We have to pressure Congress to listen to the majority’s voice. Unfortunately, we can’t trust that they will honor our wishes. We’re prepared to continue the fight and raise the level of struggle.

1,2,3,4: we don't need another war. 5,6,7,8: stop it now, it's not too late!

Failing to win support of the United Nations, the Obama administration is now turning to Congress for cover in the form of a resolution authorizing the use of military force. Getting approval from Congress doesn't make the attack legit.

When Congress returns to D.C. next week, on Sept. 9, their votes will affect whether and how a war on Syria may begin. This week, while they are in their home districts across the country, politicians need to hear from their constituents. This is the time to stop the war before the U.S government is bogged down in another expanding war like Iraq.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Syria #USImperialism #USCongress #chemicalWeapons #basharAlassad

Drawing from Jacksonville's nearly 10,000-strong Syrian immigrant community, protesters carried Syrian flags and signs reading, “Hands off Syria” and “Mr. Obama, stop supporting alQaeda in Syria.”

The resounding message was one of opposition to the U.S. war machine and support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. One woman spoke of a massacre in her home town committed by the U.S. and Saudi-backed rebels, in which 12 civilians were put to death.

“Assad is not killing his people like the media is saying. There is no proof of it,” said demonstrator Faten Mieda in an interview with the Florida Times Union. Mieda's quote referred to the baseless allegations by Secretary of State John Kerry that the Syrian Armed Forces used chemical weapons earlier in August. Reporters and UN officials cast doubt on these claims, implicating the rebels in the chemical weapon attacks.

The rally heard from several Syrian American speakers, who were young workers and small business owners in the Jacksonville area. They spoke out against the Obama administration's threats and they denounced the rebels fighting in Syria as the cause of the two and a half yearlong violence.

The demonstrators emphasized the need for the community to continue protesting against U.S. aggression towards Syria. The group announced plans for future demonstrations in Jacksonville.

#JacksonvilleFL #AntiwarMovement #Syria #USImperialism #Florida #basharAlassad #AntiIntervention #MiddleEast

Joe Iosbaker, an activist with the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, was part of the panel.

The following is the speech that Iosbaker delivered:

The Anti-War Committee is opposed to U.S. intervention in Syria. The U.S. is at war, and we are trying to stop that and prevent further intervention. I’m going to speak about some of the wrong ideas that we encounter in the anti-war movement in the course of organizing protests against the U.S./NATO/Israeli war on Syria.

Wrong idea number one: The U.S. is not at war in Syria and is trying to not get dragged in

We hear this in two versions, one from liberals and one from so-called leftists.

Liberal Version

The war in Syria is a civil war between Sunni forces oppressed by an Alawite minority government; and Alawite and Christian forces aligned with the government because they fear the victory of the Jihadist Sunni forces. The Obama administration is hesitant to intervene – they don’t want another Libya, but are being pushed by hawks like John McCain and Hilary Clinton. Obama doesn’t want to look weak.

Underneath these ideas is a belief that Washington’s entrance into the war would be a humanitarian act devoid of imperial machinations.

Response: This is relatively easy to refute simply by pointing to the billions of dollars of control that U.S. military aid buys over Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Those countries are part of the U.S. team; they wouldn’t be intervening without U.S. knowledge and consent.

Further, while issuing denials of involvement at each stage, the truth continues to leak out. A New York Times article earlier this year reported that a Qatari minister admitted that the CIA was sitting in their meetings as early as Oct. 2011 to decide where arms should go to in Syria.

‘Leftist’ version

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is part of the Syrian revolution that emerged with the Arab Spring protests in 2011. The revolution took up armed struggle after violent repression by Assad’s brutal military. The local revolutionary councils continue to run the communities and therefore the revolution should be supported. However, the Obama administration doesn’t want to support this democratic revolution, so the U.S. isn’t intervening.

Response: Whatever grievances the protesters in Syria had in 2011, the Gulf monarchies and Turkey, along with the CIA, leapt in at the opportunity that was provided. The U.S. was already funding rightist groups in Syria in 2005. After the street protests, within months, arms began to flow from Qatar and Turkey.

The fantasy that the revolution is alive and not dominated by imperialism ignores two truths that all political forces on earth know: First, the lines have been drawn quite clearly – a sectarian army backed by imperialism vs. a government with a history of resisting imperialism. Those who align themselves with foreign armies are considered traitors. And second, political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. If there are still local committees that have some political and social ideas separate from the foreign dominated armies fighting the Assad government, they will have no say in any post-war Syria.

Wrong idea number two: The Assad government is brutal, so how can we blame the FSA for accepting weapons that are supplied by Saudi Arabia and Qatar? Response: Although it is a struggle to get through the mass of pro-rebel propaganda, truth has come out. For instance, independent sources state that the largest numbers of casualties have been [inflicted on] forces associated with the government – soldiers and militia; second, civilians, including heavy Alawite casualties; and third, rebel troops.

But again, for anti-war forces in the U.S., there’s no other way to read this idea but a call for somebody to intervene to topple the government of Syria. In other words, some imperialist intervention is good.

The anti-war movement has to be very clear: the U.S. cannot play a progressive role in the affairs of another country.

Wrong idea number three: The war in Syria is a U.S./Russian proxy war Response: The mainstream media runs out this idea more and more. Characterizing the war in Syria as a proxy war lets the U.S., NATO and Israel off the hook. They are waging a war on the government and people of Syria because they want a puppet in power. The Russians are providing weapons to the government of Syria to resist that war. “Proxy war” makes it seem like both sources of arms are equally to blame for the fighting in Syria. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Wrong idea number four: The FSA grew from the Arab Spring protests against austerity. Response: What is the economic program of the rebels? No doubt everyone is aware of the violent sectarianism of the rebels, but look at the economic program of the U.S. and Gulf state-led Syrian National Council (SNC). The SNC calls for a Marshall Plan, basically looking to U.S. and Western financial agencies to recreate the Syrian economy. It is well known that U.S. investment leads to the domination of an economy by U.S. interests and not to prosperity for the majority. The policies of opening up to the West by Assad’s government and the resulting austerity measures were the cause of the Arab Spring protests in Syria in 2011. The SNC program doesn’t represent the demands of the protesters for an end to those policies.

What should the stand of the U.S. anti-war movement be?

First, recognize that the U.S. is at war. Second, in my opinion, the Syrian government ought to be defended. And more than ever the U.S. and the worldwide anti-war and social justice movement must demand, “Hands off Syria!”

For me, the starting point in looking at the world is this: the main struggle in the world today is between imperialism and the oppressed nations and people. The center of this world wide contest is the battle to control the natural resources – oil – of the mainly Muslim nations of the Middle East. This is the leading edge of the imperialist campaign to use military might to put them back on top of the world capitalist heap, which they can’t accomplish through economic means. The imperialists have lost ground over 70 years to the nations and people of the world. Their drive to turn back the hands of time is leading them to get rid of every government of an oppressed nation that resists imperialist dictates, and Syria and Iran are the two most important.

#ChicagoIL #Syria #USImperialism #JoeIsobaker #Intervention #InternationalStruggle #basharAlassad #MiddleEast