“What distinguishes war is, not that man is slain, but that he is slain, spoiled, crushed by the cruelty, the
injustice, the treachery, the
murderous hand of man.”
–William Ellery Channing

The American administration is once again flexing its muscles against another Muslim country, this time Syria alleging that the Syrian government has killed 1400 of its own people in the on-going strife in that country by using chemical weapons. The Americans to lend credibility to their claims have provided some “evidence” to other countries including Russia. The Russian government which is closely allied with the Syrians have after careful study and analysis of the samples provided to them by the Americans have called them inconclusive. The Russian President, Mr Putin has even gone to the extent of calling the evidence provided by the Americans as “rubbish”. Even the closest ally of the United States, Britain has balked at the American proposal to join their objective of striking Syria with its military power. While the Syrians have logically denied all the accusations regarding the use of chemical weapons by them.
The Syrian government has on the contrary accused the American supported rebels to have used chemical weapons against forces loyal to the Syrian government. Several analysts believe that after depriving the people of Iraq from the proceeds of oil production in that country, the Americans wanted to repeat that exercise in Iran and to do that they have decided to strike at Syria which could have stood by Iran in case either Israel or the United States decided to impose war on the Iranians.
There is a widespread belief that the ultimate objective of the US administration remains Iran and its oil and the attack on Syria will only be a prelude to the attack on Iran. However there could be serious consequences for the Americans and the entire world in case other nations are sucked in the war that is being thrust on the Syrian people. Already jittery markets have registered unprecedented increase in the price of oil sending shock waves far and wide as even the Indian oil Minister Mr Moly has proposed night time closure of petrol pumps throughout India to ration the commodity.
Several demonstrations have erupted not only in the Middle East but also in the United States where common citizens of USA have dubbed President Barack Obama as Mr Oh-Bomba. Meanwhile, reports have suggested that sensing defeat at the United Nations and maybe failure to get approval from the American Congress may not deter the decision of the gung-ho US administration which is bent upon creating a crisis of enormous proportions that will result not only in spilling human blood but could also damage the economic prospects of several countries in the world. Before taking this decision, the Americans have tried their level best by pumping in tons of money and material to the so-called Syrian rebels who failed to gain any ground against the loyalist forces of President Bashar.
Failure to achieve their objectives through their puppets and mercenaries could have compelled the United States of America to go it alone against Syria. On its part, Pakistan along with several other countries were demanding that the solution to the Syrian crisis should be found in peaceful negotiations and not by going to war. However, it would have been prudent in case the Americans and their allies had waited for comprehensive results of the samples collected from the sites where it is being alleged that the Syrian forces used chemical weapons against its own people. The United Nations could have appointed an independent body to assess the entire situation before any final decision was taken to go to war against Syria. It may be recalled that the American administration had tried to convince the world that they had evidence that late President Saddam Hussein had stored weapons of mass destruction therefore they had to eliminate that threat. The entire world knows that the Americans had lied not only to its own people, its allies but to the world at large because after combing through every inch of Iraqi territory no weapons of mass destruction have been found till today.
Similarly the analysis of the Russian and the denials of the Syrian government should not be taken lightly because in case it was once again established that the Syrian army has never used chemical weapons against their own people it will lead to a serious moral defeat for the American administration and its people.
Moreover the war in Iraq and Afghanistan have clearly established that militancy and extremism cannot be eliminated through the instrument of war and that talking with one another always remained a plausible option.
While it may be too late to expect that the Americans would see reason and refrain to impose yet another war in an already strife torn region of the world there could be some hope that the United Nations or the OIC could swiftly act and bring the warring parties to the negotiating table before it was too late to repair in Syria the damage that would be caused by the atrocity called war.

The writer has been associated with various newspapers as editor and columnist.