Ulterior motive in Syria attacks

Dear editor: Watching the latest developments in Syria reminds me of Mark Twain: “History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”

Back in 1999 when embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, then-president Bill Clinton issued orders to bomb Serbia; NATO forces were involved, and it was seen as a diversionary tactic to draw media attention away from his personal problems.

Last weekend, bombs were directed towards alleged chemical plants in Syria; launched by the U.S., where President Donald Trump is embroiled in several personal problems of a salacious nature, and by Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion inquiry.

NATO allies this time included U.K., where Theresa May is embroiled in a host of problems including the Brexit fiasco, and a Russian double agent poisoned in England.

The other NATO protagonist was France, where President Emmanuel Macron is embroiled with crippling strikes in the public sector and railways, and has become a laughing stock in Gallic media.

There’s an even stranger twist in more recent history; the orders to bomb Syria came last Friday, the president issued his “Mission Accomplished” tweet on Saturday, then the international chemical weapons inspectors entered Syria on Sunday.

These inspectors are tasked to determine if the alleged chemical attack on the rebel enclave of Douma actually took place, or if it is propaganda by those opposed to the Syrian regime. Looks like the cart was put before the horse, but that’s become normal in a country with so many factions fighting each other.

The weekend’s strange sequence of events harkens back to 2003 when international inspectors under Hans Blix were trying to determine if Saddam Hussein had any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Their efforts were cut short by the shock-and-awe bombing campaign of President George W. Bush and his “coalition of the willing."

Not too long afterwards, he issued that infamous mission-accomplished” photo-op on the aircraft carrier off California. We all know what happened after that.

Political leaders may wonder why so many of us plebeians are so skeptical of their words and actions, but Mark Twain’s words certainly ring true, as does a similar epigram by Alphonse Karr translated from his native French: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Bernie Smith Parksville