bOLLy ENn - White
House pada hari Khamis meminta Kongres untuk setengah bilion dolar dalam
bantuan untuk pergi ke arah pejuang pembangkang di Syria berperang dengan rejim
baru-baru ini dipilih semula Presiden Bashar Al-Assad.
Sementara
itu, Setiausaha Pertahanan Amerika Syarikat Chuck Hagel tlh menga-rahkan
Pentagon utk membangunkan pelan yang lebih terperinci utk melatih &
melengkapkan pemberontak Syria sederhana, harus Kongres meluluskan pembiayaan
yang diminta.
Dalam
satu laporan dihantar ke ahli parlimen di Capitol pada hari Khamis, White House
meminta $ 500 juta pada bantuan kepada "membantu mempertahankan rakyat
Syria, menstabilkan kawasan di bawah kawalan pembangkang & memudahkan
penye-diaan perkhidmatan penting, menangani ancaman pengganas & menggalakkan
syarat bagi dirundingkan penyelesaian."
Associated
Press melaporkan bahawa permintaan dolar berjuta membentuk hanya sebahagian
kecil daripada yang lebih besar, operasi $65.8 billion luar negara SMS yang
dihantar kepada Kongres bahawa, jika diluluskan, akan membiayai beberapa
Pentagon & program Jabatan Negara, dan $ 1 bilion dalam bantuan kpd negara2 bersebelahan dengan Syria.
Wakil
Tetap Rusia ke Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Vitaly Churkin dipanggil permintaan itu
satu langkah ke arah yang salah, sambil menambah bahawa White House hanya cuba
utk menambah bahan api yg lebih kepada api & bukannya mencari
penyelesaian politik apabila ia datang kepada konflik Syria.
Churkin
menambah bahawa wang yang boleh dibelanjakan untuk sesuatu yang lebih berguna.
Komen-komen yang dibuat dalam sidang akhbar PBB.
Ini
permintaan terkini oleh pentadbiran untuk bantuan datang semata-mata minggu
selepas presiden menggariskan objektif dasar luar semasa ucapan bulan lepas di
majlis tamat pengajian Akademi Tentera West Point.
"Sebagai
presiden, saya membuat keputusan bahawa kita tdk harus meletakkan tentera
Amerika ke tengah2 perang saudara semakin mazhab ini, dan saya percaya
bahawa adalah keputusan yang tepat.
Tetapi
itu tidak bermakna kita tidak harus membantu rakyat Syria berdiri menentang
diktator yang bom dan kebuluran rakyat sendiri, "kata Obama. "Dan
dalam membantu orang-orang yang berjuang untuk hak semua orang Syria untuk
memilih masa depan mereka sendiri, kami juga menolak balik terhadap peningkatan
bilangan pelampau yang mencari tempat yang selamat dalam kekacauan."
"Jadi
dgn sumber2 tambahan saya mengumumkan hari ini, kami akan meningkatkan
usaha kami untuk menyokong jiran Syria - Jordan dan Lubnan, Turki dan Iraq -
kerana mereka berdepan dgn pelarian & menghadapi pengganas bekerja merentasi
sempadan Syria."
White
House REQUESTs $500 Million to Aid
Syrian REBELs . . .
The
White House on Thursday asked Congress for half-a-billion dollars in aid to go
towards opposition fighters in Syria at war with the regime of recently
re-elected President Bashar Al-Assad.
Meanwhile,
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the Pentagon to develop more
detailed plans to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, should Congress
approve the requested funding.
In
a report sent to lawmakers at the Capitol on Thursday, the White House
requested $500 million in aid to "help defend the Syrian people, stabilize
areas under opposition control and facilitate the provision of essential
services, counter terrorist threats and promote conditions for a negotiated settlement.”
The
Associated Press reported that the multimillion dollar request makes up just a
fraction of a larger, $65.8 billion overseas operations request sent to
Congress that, if approved, would fund a number of Pentagon and State
Department programs, as well as $1 billion in assistance to nations adjacent to
Syria.
Russian
Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin called the
request a step in the wrong direction, adding that the White House is only
trying to add more fuel to the fire instead of seeking a political solution
when it comes to the Syrian conflict.
Churkin
added that the money could be spent on something more useful. The comments were
made during a UN press conference.
This
latest request by the administration for aid comes merely weeks after the
president outlined his foreign policy objectives during a speech last month at
the West Point Military Academy graduation ceremony.
“As
president, I made a decision that we should not put American troops into the
middle of this increasingly sectarian civil war, and I believe that is the
right decision.
But
that does not mean we shouldn’t help the Syrian people stand up against a
dictator who bombs and starves his own people,” Obama said. “And in helping
those who fight for the right of all Syrians to choose their own future, we are
also pushing back against the growing number of extremists who find safe haven
in the chaos.”
“So
with the additional resources I’m announcing today, we will step up our efforts
to support Syria’s neighbors - Jordan and Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq - as they
contend with refugees and confront terrorists working across Syria’s borders.”
Pemberontak pejuang berdiri
di atas imej Presiden terdahulu Syria Hafez al-Assad (dariKanan) dan anaknya
hadir Presiden Syria Bashar al-Assad di persimpangan sempadan Kasab dengan
Turki, di wilayah barat laut Latakia (Rebels fighter stand on the images of the
late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad (R) and his son present Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad at the Kasab border crossing with Turkey, in the northwestern
province of Latakia (AFP Photo/Amr Radwan Al-Homsi)
Pada
masa itu, Obama berkata beliau akan "bekerja dgn Kongres utk itu
meningkatkan sokongan kepada mereka dlm pembangkang Syria yg menawarkan
alternatif terbaik kepada pengganas dan diktator kejam." Kini hanya minggu
kemudian, dia muncul untuk telah mengambil langkah pertama untuk mendapatkan
pembiayaan tersebut.
Sejak
hampir permulaan perang Syria awam yang lebih daripada 3 tahun yang lalu, Parti
Republik agresif di Kongres telah mendesak White House untuk mengambil tindakan
terhadap Assad, dengan Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) akan sejauh untuk
perjalanan ke luar negara untuk bertemu dengan pejuang pemberontak di luar
negara.
Yang
lain telah mengutuk sebarang maklum balas daripada Washington sama sekali,
walaupun, termasuk Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), yang minggu ini mengaitkan
membekalkan senjata pejuang di Iraq sebagai dorongan untuk "Jihad Ajaib"
ada dicipta pada jam tangan Uncle Sam dan murah.
Tetapi
Brian Becker, penyelaras kebangsaan bagi JAWAPAN Gabungan anti-perang, kata
kerajaan Amerika Syarikat sedang bermain kedua-dua pihak dengan tindakannya di
Syria dan Iraq counteracting satu sama lain.
"Amerika
Syarikat nampaknya mempunyai dasar luar yang menderita Skizofrenia," kata
Becker dalam temu bual dengan RT. "Mereka berkata mereka menuntut
perpaduan di Iraq di belakang kerajaan pusat, yang sedang berjuang apa yang
mereka panggil pelampau Islam dari ISIL atau ISIS, dan lagi, pada masa yang
sama, mereka membiayai kumpulan-kumpulan ini sama bersenjata di Syria untuk
mengambil satu bebas, nasionalis dan kerajaan kerajaan di Syria."
Menurut
AP Julie Pace, pegawai White House berkata pentadbiran Obama akan bekerjasama
dengan ahli-ahli Kongres dan pemain serantau untuk mencapai kata sepakat dengan
apa jenis latihan dan bantuan khususnya akan diberikan kepada pejuang
pembangkang oleh Amerika Syarikat.
"Salah
satu pilihan yang berpotensi," Pace menulis, "adalah untuk asas wakil
Amerika Syarikat di Jordan dan menjalankan latihan di sana."
Becker
percaya bahawa wakil Amerika Syarikat di Jordan sedang diselaraskan oleh CIA,
iaitu "pembiayaan dan menjadi bahan api perang saudara menggunakan kuasa
proksi."
"Apa
yang Amerika Syarikat lakukan dan telah lakukan adalah menyalurkan wang,
senjata dan banyak lagi alat pekerjaan di rantau yang dianggapnya penting
kerana ia kaya dengan sumber," tambah Becker. "Itulah
mengenainya."
Bulan
lepas, Pentagon dikerahkan lebih daripada 6,000 Marin ke Jordan untuk
menjalankan latihan bersama pegawai-pegawai tentera di sana.
At
the time, Obama added that he would “work with Congress to ramp up support for
those in the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists and
brutal dictators.” Now only weeks later, he appears to have taken the first
steps to securing such funding.
Since
nearly the start of the Syrian civil war more than three years ago, hawkish
Republicans in Congress have urged the White House to take action against
Assad, with Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) going as far as to travel abroad to
meet with rebel fighters overseas. Others have condemned any response from
Washington altogether, though, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who this
week attributed the arming of fighters in Iraq as the impetus for a “jihadist
wonderland” there created on Uncle Sam’s watch and dime.
But
Brian Becker, national coordinator for the anti-war ANSWER Coalition, says the
US government is playing both sides with its actions in Syria and Iraq
counteracting each other.
“The
United States appears to have a schizophrenic foreign policy,” Becker said in
an interview with RT. “They’re saying they demand unity in Iraq behind the
central government, which is fighting what they call Islamic extremists from
ISIL or ISIS, and yet, at the same time, they’re funding these same armed
groups in Syria to take down an independent, nationalist and sovereign
government in Syria.”
According
to the AP’s Julie Pace, White House officials said the Obama administration
would work with members of Congress and regional player to come to terms with
what sort of training and assistance in particular would be provided to
opposition fighters by the US.
“One
potential option,” Pace wrote, “would be to base US personnel in Jordan and
conduct the training exercise there.”
Becker
believes that US personnel in Jordan being coordinated by the CIA, which is
“funding and fueling a civil war using proxy forces.”
“What
the US is doing and has been doing is funneling money, guns and more occupation
tools in a region that it considers to be vital because it’s resource-rich,”
Becker added. “That’s about it.”
Last
month, the Pentagon deployed more than 6,000 Marines to Jordan to conduct
drills alongside military officials there.
READ
MORE: http://on.rt.com/nx9wd4
