Bush-Cheney Never Met a Border they Didn't Want to Violate

And now it is Syria's turn. Yet, the violation of the most basic and fundamental international laws seem to have barely raised an eyebrow in the United States. The news -what passes for news- is filled with chatter about Palin being a Diva and how much money -$150,000- the gal from humble Wassila spent on her wardrobe. The American attack on Syria is relegated to the running banner at the bottom of the screen. Perhaps eight years of such rogue behavior has immunized the media against reacting negatively. A good part of the general public, on the other hand, is just oblivious and many, because of their biases, are predisposed to swallow the American official version of the story. The thinking goes something like this: "If they went after them, then they must be guilty of something; they are, after all Ayrabs and Mooslims".

Lost in any discussion, even by journalists who ought to know better, is that the fundamental issue is the violation of the sovereignty of a country with whom the United States is not at war. This was a calculated and planned raid, not a case of crossing border in hot pursuit. The subtext of most of the reports is that the raid is somehow justified because it was in pursuit of smugglers of foreign fighters. Even if every last one of the nine persons killed on the Sukkarieh farm is proven to be a smuggler of foreign fighters, the raid is an illegal and unjustified by international law. It is the type of action that would trigger a war; and perhaps that is the ultimate purpose. Why now? Because Bush-Cheney are trying to create a foreign policy distraction to influence the election; because Bush-Cheney and the neocons continue to stubbornly stick to their imperial hegemonic plans for the Middle East despite eight years of proof that their plans have failed dismally.

That the American media is not alarmed by this development is disturbing. They ought to know after eight years of lies and deceptions what the administration is up to. This may be lame duck presidency but Bush-Cheney are still quacking and they still have time to create a lot of trouble before the new president is sworn in on January 20th, 2009.