How to End the Refugee Flood

Remember when America erupted in fury over France’s refusal to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003? President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin warned that George Bush’s unprovoked aggression against Iraq would destabilize the Mideast and inflict untold dangers on Europe.
America’s response to the sage warning was to change the name of French fries to ‘Freedom fries’ and press ahead with the invasion of Iraq. President Saddam Hussein of Iraq warned that an America invasion would ignite the ‘Mother of All Battles’ and would ‘open the gates of Hell.’
The French leaders and Saddam were absolutely right as confirmed by the waves of desperate Mideast refugees flooding into Europe and the rampaging wildmen of Islamic State.
In 2006, the Bush administration, cheered on by Israel, planned to invade Syria and destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon. This was during the period when Bush was boasting to Britain’s Tony Blair that the US would also go on to invade Pakistan. The invasion of Syria did not take place because a few intelligent people in Washington asked who would Washington put into power to run Syria? The only alternative at the time to the Assad regime was the underground Muslim Brotherhood. Washington wanted nothing to do with political Muslims so it deferred the invasion.

This post was published at Lew Rockwell on September 14, 2015.