US unwilling to rout out terrorists: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Mike Harris, editor with Veterans Today from Phoenix, on the United States’ real intention in its so-called war on terrorism in the Middle East.

Following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Looks like the United States is playing both ends against the middle and expecting to win, or is it actually trying to seek an endless conflict in the Middle East, which ultimately gives Daesh the upper hand?

Harris: It is my opinion that the US has been trying to establish an open-ended conflict there with no end in sight. And this is a foreign policy disaster for the United States, absolute foreign policy disaster.

The US is in no position to go out and engage in another war in the Middle East. We are still licking our wounds from Iraq and Afghanistan. And the US military is not in shape to do this, and this is merely the nose of the camel coming under the tent.

Press TV: Do you think America’s troop deployment is going to help the situation in Syria and are the intentions genuine?

Harris: No, I think no to both. It is not going to help the situation in Syria. If the US wanted to help Syria, the Syrian government has open channels to the US government, saying, Look we wish to cooperate with us, we would like to coordinate and work together.

I have been in Syria. I have met with government officials. I know what the official Syrian position is on this. The US government has said, No thank you.

The US government has not wished to engage with the Syrian government in a sincere effort to rout out the terrorist organization. And that is because there are elements within the US that are backing the terrorists.

And it appears that the US has ... a new commander in chief. It appears that President Obama is no longer the commander in chief of the US military. It appears that Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, is the new commander in chief of the United States army and the United States military. That is what appears to be.

Press TV: What is at stake for the United States in Syria?

Harris: Besides global prestige and our good standing, our perception of who we are as a people, everything. There are millions of dollars.

Here is what you understand. The US is broke. The Western banks are broke. They have overleveraged themselves. They have bankrupted the piggy bank. They have to go into countries like Libya, like Iraq, like Syria and steal, asset-strip, in order to keep funding themselves. That is the business model they run.

They have destroyed the economy in this country. It is no longer productive.  And these guys have got their back up against the wall because of their own bad policies. They have screwed up. Big time!

Press TV: How many more countries are they going to drag into this quagmire and how long is this going to go on for?

Harris: I do not know, but they are going to drag on as many as they need. The military industrial complex needs another war. Remember, the US taxpayer funded seven trillion dollars in military spending for Iraq and Afghanistan.

The military defense contractors became dependent upon that. They have to be able to retain good quarterly revenues. And so, they need another war in order to keep their bottom-line profits up.

And so, they are dragging us into another war. The American people do not want it. The American military does not want it. At least at the enlisted level do not want or are willing to go, but they do not want to go.

I have been in conversations with active duty personnel on at least four different army bases here in the past three days, and they do not want to go, they do not wish to participate in this.

The US military has no desire to go into another endless conflict into the Middle East. They do not want to do it.