TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-It is difficult not to conclude that the United States is repeating the error made by former president George W Bush when it attacked Iraq with the excuse that the country stocked weapons of mass destruction. Before attacking Syria with cruise missiles last week, the US should have listened to Indonesia.
In the view of Indonesians, there can be no justification for the use of poison gas, especially against civilians. But in order to prove it, the United Nations must verify whether Syria used these evil weapons. This kind of caution should deter President Donald Trump from repeating the devastating error committed by President Bush 16 years ago. Even after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was overthrown, tried and eventually executed and the country plummeted into chaotic sectarian conflict, the weapons were never found.
The US attacked Syria before Indonesia voiced its stance. On signs that Syrian government troops used chemical weapons to kill people - including children - American warships sailed to the Mediterranean, and launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Shayrat airfield in Syria. This military base is believed to be the logistic headquarters for the gas attack against Khan Shaikhun, which killed 89 civilians.
Then, after "punishing" Syria to prevent it from further chemical weapons attack, in response to another development on the other side of the world, the US sent a naval fleet to the waters off the Korean peninsula, to halt North Korea from carrying out nuclear tests. In other words, the US is repositioning itself as a "world policeman". This is clearly a large scale "de-Obamaization" foreign policy: the US seems happy to show its military might to the world.
There is de-Obamaization, and there is also the personal interest of Donald Trump, both accommodated by this development. He hopes that the tensions with Moscow resulting from this attack will remove suspicions about his closeness to Moscow. Some Americans still believe that the "hand of Russia" was behind Trump's victory in the presidential election.
Relations between the US and Russia have cooled down considerably. At the United Nations in New York last week, Russia once again vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for sanctions against Syria. With the "Syria factor" casting a shadow over relations between the two countries, it is not impossible that the United States and Russia will once again find themselves in another "cold war".
The most regrettable aspect of this development is that the US has chosen the regime of Bashar alAssad rather than ISIS, which has brought so much misfortune on the worldas the enemy. This means that for the time being, ISIS is no longer the "great enemy" uniting the US, Russia and a large number of nations in an alliance that is very worried about sectarian conflicts, repression of minorities and massive human rights violations by the followers of ISIS "caliph" Abu Bakar al Baghdadi. This is clearly a mistake. (*)
Read the full story in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
