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perpetual war
Endless Flow of Weapons Fuels Endless War in Iraq and Syria
New report shows how flood of munitions from across the globe, including the United States, are making peace impossible in Middle East
Oct 06, 2014
An analysis of new data (pdf) collected by a group which tracks weapons in global conflict zones has found that a large proportion of the munitions now being used by ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria are from U.S. manufacturers, either captured on the battlefield or sold to them by supposed U.S. allies.
According to the New York Times on Monday, the available data put together by the Conflict Armament Research, "suggests that ammunition transferred into Syria and Iraq to help stabilize governments has instead passed from the governments to the jihadists, helping to fuel the Islamic State's rise and persistent combat power. Rifle cartridges from the United States, the sample shows, have played a significant role."
The report notes that a majority of ISIS munitions it examined from Syria were from China and Russia, while those munitions being used by ISIS in Iraq were more likely to be from the United States. The analysis shows that of the approximately 1700 pieces of munitions examined, more than 300 were US-manufactured cartridges, dating from the 2000s. This amounted to nearly 20 percent of the total material documented. "IS forces appear to have acquired a large part of their current arsenal from stocks seized from, or abandoned by, Iraqi defence and security forces," the report states. "The US gifted much of this materiel to Iraq."
The new report focused on munitions follows a similar report from the same research group last month which found the same troubling pattern when it came to light and heavy weaponry being used by ISIS.
Taken together, the pattern shows how the persistent flood of weapons into the region--not just from the U.S., but from China, Russia, and other large suppliers as well--has fueled the violence and the killing on all sides of the conflict.
As the Center for Public Integrityreports:
Much of the Islamic State arms and ammunition were captured on the battlefield, but intelligence reports have suggested that the group's income from oil sales and other sources is high enough to finance purchases of additional weapons directly from the companies and dealers that routinely profit from strife in the Middle East.
Experts say the fact that the armaments have such disparate sources - some were even made at a major U.S. munitions plant in Missouri - provides a cautionary note as Washington prepares to undertake expanded shipments of military supplies, including small arms, to rebel groups in Syria and to a revived Iraqi Army force.
Though Congress recently approved $500 million for arming and training "moderate" Syrian rebel forces last month, many foreign policy experts have warned against such spending, arguing that only diplomatic efforts--not military ones--can ultimately solve the conflict.
As Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, told Common Dreams in reaction to CAR's September report on weapons in the region: "This is one more piece of evidence of why military solutions have devastating consequences in the immediate and long terms. We see an example of the consequences of the over-arming of the region if we look back at Afghanistan in the 1980s during the anti-Soviet War when the U.S. provided stinger missiles that can bring down aircraft to mujahedin guerrillas who morphed into al Qaeda."
And as a new short video by Brave New Films argues, it is this steady flow of weapons and militaristic mindset that creates a cycle of "perpetual war," in which bombing, drone attacks, and sending of weapons only fuels and worsens the very "terrorism" that such wars are said to be aimed at stopping. "How does this end?" the film asks.
How Perpetual War Fuels Terrorism • BRAVE NEW FILMSSince 1980, we have militarily intervened at least 35 times in more than 27 countries. We keep bombing, we continue spending ...
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US Senate Approves $500 Million to Arm Syrian Militants
Lawmakers back president's plan to expand new war in the Middle East
Sep 19, 2014
Despite loud warnings from many quarters--including foreign policy experts, the anti-war left and dissenting CIA analysts--that such a move could prove disastrous, the U.S. Senate on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to approve $500 million in government funds to help arm, train, and support so-called moderate military forces inside Syria.
The 78-22 vote--which came packaged as part of a continuing resolution for broader government spending--received bipartisan support with only 9 Democrats, 12 Republicans, and one independent (Sen. Bernie Sanders) voting against it. (See the full roll call vote here.)
Approved earlier in the week by the House of Representatives, the legislation is now headed for President Obama's desk where he is likely to sign it.
Obama has said that he does not think he needs Congressional approval for his overall strategy to confront the militant group known as the Islamic State (or ISIS) that has no taken over large swaths of territory in both Iraq and Syria. Simultaneously, however, the president has tried to garner as many visible signs of support from lawmakers as possible. The votes this week offer him plenty of cover as the Pentagon continues to make plans for expected, though deeply controversial, airstrikes against ISIS targets inside Syria.
As Obama has deployed increasing numbers of ground troops back into Iraq in recent weeks and expanded the U.S. bombing campaign, lawmakers have largely stood aside.
Explaining his vote against Thursday's measure, Sen. Sanders said, "I fear very much that supporting questionable groups in Syria who will be outnumbered and outgunned by both ISIS and the Assad regime could open the door to the United States once again being dragged back into the quagmire of long-term military engagement."
On Thursday, filmmakers at Brave New Films released a succinct anti-war video arguing against Obama's flawed strategy in Iraq and Syria, saying that the president and those who back him are making the same mistakes that have plagued U.S. foreign policy for decades.
"Since 1980," the narrator of the films states, "we have militarily intervened at least 35 times in more than 27 countries. We keep bombing, we continue spending trillions of dollars, but we're no safer as a result."
Watch:
How Perpetual War Fuels Terrorism • BRAVE NEW FILMSSince 1980, we have militarily intervened at least 35 times in more than 27 countries. We keep bombing, we continue spending ...
Keep ReadingShow Less
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