Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
Sep 7, 2013, Press TV
Press TV has conducted an interview with Webster Griffin Tarpley, an author and historian from Washington, over the G20 leaders’ opposition to a military assault on Syria.
What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Pressure is on [US President Barack] Obama both at home and abroad; moreover, we have the UN saying that there needs to be UN mandate if there were to be strike on Syria. Just how likely do you think Washington will give in to such pressure, to global pressure and not attack Syria?
Tarpley: Well, we do not know, except to say that we have two counts inside the administration; Secretary of State [John] Kerry who seems to be the biggest warmonger in the White House says that even if the Congress says no to war, Obama will launch war. However, we have the foreign policy advisor to Vice President [Joe] Biden, a guy by the name of Antony Blinken, he said this morning on the radio that if the Congress says “no,” then Obama will abide by the “no.”
Now, let’s just take a look, right now the counts that widely accepted I think is something like this: in the House of Representatives we have 39 votes for war, 39 votes for the war resolution coming from Obama. We have 171 undecided but we have 223 ready to vote “no;” now if that remains the same, the resolution is defeated, because the minimum needed to block it is 217, because of the fact that we have two vacancies in the House right now.
So, the magic number in the House is 217. According to Congressman [Alan] Grayson, the Democrats are going to go against this resolution by about a four to one margin and the Republicans will go against it by a ten to one margin.
Ironically, the Republicans are more peaceful, but of course they are motivated by their intense dislike of Obama. The calls coming in to the congressional offices range from 15 to 121 against the war resolution. Now, in the Senate, it is 28 “yes,” 39 “no” and 41 undecided. However, we gotta watch out for threats, blackmail the FBI brings out to its associates, the blackmail these Congressmen and the Saudis and the Qataris are reported to be deploying huge amounts of money for bribery; bribery in to the families and political and business interest of these members of Congress.
We have got a report that [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton has received USD 500,000 in jewelry from the King of Saudi Arabia and Hillary Clinton just came out for war.
Press TV: Despite what you said, the thing is that suppose the Congress approves the resolution to go to war in Syria, the main question many ask and I have asked frequently on this show is that how much can a congressional approval for a war on Syria justify a war without a UN mandate?
Tarpley: From the point of view of International Law, not at all; no individual country’s legislature can decide these things. I would say without the UN Security council mandate, it is illegal. There are plenty of things that go to the Security Council that are also illegal, but we leave that aside.
Poorly if you do not have the Security Council, then it is illegal; the other things that weighs very heavily as [Russian] President Putin saying Russia is helping and will continue to help Syria; that I think is giving some people cause for pause for thought and the Russian declaration that this entire affair was a provocation cynically manufactured by the rebels in a desperate bid to procure foreign intervention.
And of course the failure of Kerry and of [National Security Advisor] Susan Rice could not be more complete; the British have turned against them, NATO will not join them, the NATO organization, the Arab League will not support armed attack on Syria, the United Nation, be it the secretary general or the Security Council is not going to be part of this.
The pope in Rome is against them, the European Union, with [the current President of the European Commission Jose Manuel] Barroso and [President of the European Council Herman] Van Rompuy against them; so, the … in St. Petersburg.
The failure of Kerry as an imperialist diplomat and an imperialist bureaucrat could not be more complete and the fact that Susan Rice was with Obama in Saint Petersburg and had this terrible result, I think also indicates that these two people could be thrown overboard, in other words, Obama’s way out of this is to fire Kerry, fire Rice and a few others and say I was given very bad advice and now I am going to turn away from it; that seems to be part of his idea in Saint Petersburg press conference this morning.
