The Lost Charm of Syria

By Bill Evelyn on --  A Bad Case of Gas

Syria, the Fertile Crescent, is the birth place of humanity and civilization. During the ministry of St. Peter Christianity was introduced in Damascus. Syria is home to 21 million people and seven major political groups – Alawites, Sunnis, Christians, Kurds, Shia, Druze, and Arabs. Syria is a diverse and cultured society with world class universities.

The post World War II period was a renaissance for Syria economically. Syria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 80% in the 1960′s and 336% in the 1970′s. Syria exports 650,000 barrels of oil per day and natural gas reservoirs are world class. Average per capita income as late as 2011 grew 3.68%, but in 2012 with civil war GDP has fallen 25%. Seventy thousand civilians have died in the fighting, oil and gas pipelines are being sabotaged by the rebels, and sanctions from the United States and the rest of the world are killing the Syrian economy. Syria has lost its charm.

Barack Hussein Obama campaigned for President in 2008 vowing to end wars in the Muslim world. He has resisted calls by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to intervene in Syria’s ever-more-bloody civil war. Most recently a purported gas attack in an eastern suburb of Damascus has raised the specter of intervention by the United States. The 1,000 or so suspected gas victims have raised the ire of Barack Hussein Obama, but curiously not the 70,000 victims who died by 7.62mm x 39 carbine rounds. Lest you be fooled again by King Obama, any attack on Syria will not be based on humanitarian reasons. He will intervene because Syria has a bad case of gas.

There are two teams in Syria vying for Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) shipments to Europe and China. Team A is the United States, Qatar, Iraq, Turkey, and Israel. They want to build an LNG pipeline from Qatar through Saudi Arabia and Iraq to the Turkish border. Team B is Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia, Pakistan, and China. They want to build a pipeline from Iran to the Syrian Mediterranean coast (The Islamic Pipeline). Iran would also like to pump Syrian gas through Pakistan into China.

Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority, and Cyprus share a claim of a recently discovered offshore natural gas reservoir (The Leviathan), which is estimated at 122 trillion cu ft (122 x 1012 cu ft) of available natural gas. Israel obviously wants to claim all of The Leviathan and sell that gas to Europe. Syria wants to claim all of The Leviathan and sell that gas to Europe, Pakistan, and China.

The world’s largest natural gas reservoir is shared by Qatar and Iran. The South Pars (500 x 1012 cu ft) natural gas reservoir has reserves of 500 trillion cu ft. The Iranians have invested heavily on LNG facilities and a pipeline through Pakistan over the past decade to sell this gas to Europe and China. The energy starved Chinese are said to have funded the hurried construction of the pipeline through Pakistan to their southern border and have agreed to rebuild damaged gas infrastructure if the al-Assad government beats the Syrian rebels. The Russian’s have inked deals to their benefit with The Islamic Pipeline and have stationed war ships in the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia to protect that investment. We installed a Shiite government in Iraq that is allied with Iran. In 2010 Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding to allow The Islamic Pipeline to cross its territory.

The opposing Team A is not keen on seeing its natural gas interests interfered with by The Islamic Pipeline. Turkey has always coveted the role of being the major bridge of oil and gas to the East and West, while Qatar wants to monopolize the South Pars reserves. The financial implications are enormous and it’s no wonder Team A and Team B will stop at nothing to win their gas war. Syria is the unlucky guy stuck in the middle seat between two guys with gas.

Syria has a huge population of rank-n-file Sunni Muslims. Sunni’s hate Alawite Arabs (A Sunni Sect) just a tad less than Shia Muslims and Zionist’s. Bashar al-Assad is the President of Syria and a member of the Alawite sect and leader of the Socialist Baath Party of Syria. The rebels are primarily Sunni from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Qatar, and Iraq which is a very convenient fact for Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are paying to arm the rebels, which contain elements of Al-Qaeda. Turkey is cooperating and allowing those weapons to cross the unpopulated Turkish Syrian border. The United States is threatening to intervene on behalf of the Al-Qaeda rebels with strategic strikes on Assad’s military forces. Russia, China, and Iran are warning of strikes on Israel if the United States intervenes. What a mess!

At the time this article was being sent for publication Barack Hussein Obama has indicated he is going to consult with Congress before intervening. Good idea since any intervention by Barack Hussein Obama will violate the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) of 2001, the Constitution of 1789, and The War Powers Act of 1971.

The AUMF identified Al-Qaeda as the seditious organization on which the President was authorized to use military force. If Barack Hussein Obama bombs the al-Assad government it will be assisting Al-Qaeda in violation of the AUMF. He has no authority to initiate military force on the al-Assad government. A war without the express authorization or a Declaration of War by Congress will be in violation of Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. The Constitution states; “Congress shall have power to … declare War”. The President has no authority to start a war. The President does have authority by The War Powers Act of 1971 to use force if there is a direct threat to the United States. Within 60 days he must get Congress’ approval to continue that military force. Syria is no threat to the United States, so he can’t use The War Powers Act as a justification for intervention.

If Barack Hussein Obama bombs Syria and starts another war without Congressional approval, he should be immediately impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. But this leads to a more profound question. Syria and the Middle East is a mess. Why do we want to help Al-Qaeda in Syria, while bombing Al-Qaeda in Yemen? These rebels are people who eat the organs of their vanquished enemies, kill Christians, and gas innocent women and children.

Why stick our nose in this stench?

Source: http://cumminghome.com/the-lost-charm-of-syria/

About Bill Evelyn
Bill Evelyn was raised in the village of Oaks in Valley Forge, PA. Upon graduation from university, Bill entered the United States Air Force and flew F-4 Phantoms in the Philippines, Korea, Europe, did an exchange tour on the USS Midway. Bill has lived in Forsyth County since 2000, longer than any other place in his life. Bill is active in the tea party and Republican Party.

Comments:

Great article Bill !  The U.S. and Canada are sitting on a mother-load of natural gas under the oil fields.  We should be using our resources to build refrigerated Liquid Natural Gas exporting facilities, so we can export natural gas to Europe. If piping it as a gas is the most cost-effective solution, at the very least, we can supply all of North and South America.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader