Ben Schreiner: The Imperial "Friends" of Syria!

As the proposed April 10 Syrian ceasefire goes up in smoke, so, too, does the hope for a Syrian-led political process to resolve the crisis. Quite predictably, the US propaganda machine has rushed to lay blame for the abortive ceasefire solely at the feet of the Syrian government. As a New York Times headline averred Monday: "Cease-fire in Doubt as Syria Demands New Conditions." These "new" conditions, the article detailed, include "written guarantees' that rebels would stop fighting before it pulled back its troops under the cease-fire plan." Of course, the six-point peace initiative proposed by joint United Nations and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan, which has already been agreed upon by the Syrian government, explicitly calls for the "cessation of violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians and stabilize the country." In service to propaganda, however, the US media has largely sidestepped such matters in propagating a narrative of one-sided Syrian governmental intransigence. Thus, the maneuvering over the weekend by the armed Syrian opposition to undermine the Tuesday ceasefire, was largely ignored. Yet as Reuters reported Saturday, "Rebel Free Syrian Army commander Colonel Riad al-Asaad said his men would cease fire, provided 'the regime withdraws from the cities and returns to its original barracks." Reuters went on to admit, "Annan's plan does not stipulate a complete army withdrawal to barracks or mention police." Still, the concerted move to undo the Annan peace initiative did not begin this past weekend. Rather, it began a full week prior. Lest one forgets, the armed Syrian opposition, which the self-proclaimed "friends" of the Syrian people so readily laud and seek to now shower with cash, was publicly chided a mere two weeks ago by Human Rights Watch for committing myriad human-rights abuses against the Syrian people.