The response by the US Government to the deaths of some 3,000 persons on the 11th of September 2001 was a world‐wide War on Terror that has lead to some 9,000 deaths of the US and allied military personnel alone and of over 300,000 (some say over a million) other deaths as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as of US operations in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. And now the US is poised for a war against Syria.
But it was not just the dead, the wounded, the widowed and the orphaned, that fell victims to the War on Terror in the past 12 years. And not even the destruction of property and population movements and the trillions of dollars spent. But the trust of the people of the USA in their government has fallen victim of the 9/11.
The twelve years of propaganda to justify the War on Terror wars has totally discredited the US politicians and pro‐government media, and the people no longer believe anything they say.
And few Americans support the posture of the US government as a world policeman throwing bombs around to keep world peace.
It is clear to everybody that the War on Terror has totally failed as a means of stopping or preventing terrorism. The result of it was spread of chaos and violence. But, some see it as a victory. “Have not we succeeded to turn those Arabs against each other?”, they say, “Everthing is going as planned. Now the Arabs are fighting between themselves, instead of threatening Israel. Iraq is no longer a threat, as it was under Saddam, nor are Libya and Egypt. All that is left is to remove Assad from Syria, to smash Hizbullah, and to democratize Iran — and the War on Terror objectives will be achieved — a “cake walk”.
But, this is not how most Americans see it. They do not see Syria as a threat to the USA. Many even see the actions of the Syrian government as “fight against terrorists armed and supported by the US government”. And they do not want more wars.
Now that the US government is seeking domestic and international support for a “strike” against Syria, the majority of the people in the USA are against it. And the British Parliament, which supported the Iraq War, refused to support a call for a war against Syria.
But, there is still a possibility of the US government attacking Syria, regardless of what the people want. How will this new war affect the USA, its allies, and the rest of the world?