Chris Hedges on Responding to Genocide in Syria
The Truthdig columnist went on The Real News Network to criticize Obama's reliance on a gas attack on Syrian civilians last month as he attempts to start a unilateral war, an act which Hedges says "illustrates the rise of our imperial presidency."
Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges went on The Real News Network to criticize Obama’s reliance on a gas attack on Syrian civilians last month as he attempts to start a unilateral war, an act that Hedges says “illustrates the rise of our imperial presidency.”
Early in the conversation with Real News Network senior editor Paul Jay, Hedges said:
I believe that one of the primary lessons of the Holocaust is that when you have the capacity to stop genocide and you do not, you are culpable. But there has to be an active campaign of genocide. So we are culpable by not intervening during the genocide in Rwanda, in Cambodia, when Saddam Hussein was wiping out the Kurds in Northern Iraq. But to respond after that genocide is complete as a kind of punishment is for me very short sighted because it essentially involves the United States not in an act of preventing an ongoing or current act of genocide, but in essence taking sides in this civil war.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.TheRealNews:
WAIT BEFORE YOU GO...This year, the ground feels uncertain — facts are buried and those in power are working to keep them hidden. Now more than ever, independent journalism must go beneath the surface.
At Truthdig, we don’t just report what's happening — we investigate how and why. We follow the threads others leave behind and uncover the forces shaping our future.
Your tax-deductible donation fuels journalism that asks harder questions and digs where others won’t.
Don’t settle for surface-level coverage.
Unearth what matters. Help dig deeper.
Donate now.
Photo Essay
Before the hippies were calling for “dropping acid, not bombs,” the United States government was hard at work developing hallucinogenic bombs.
The congresswoman has been labeled an "Assad apologist," but her skepticism about Syria's use of chemical weapons appears well warranted.
The confirmation hearing for the CIA director nominee offers a chance to show how the U.S. government manufactures consent through insidious means.
Truthdig writers Sonali Kolhatkar and Max Blumenthal disagree with each other regarding key elements in the recent reports that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in Douma. This is Blumenthal's take on the issue.
The U.S., the U.K. and France launched the attack even though they had no solid evidence that the Assad regime had used chemical warfare. The allies' action was little more than a propaganda exercise.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.