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The War Propaganda - Remember the Tet Offensive

Reader comment on item: Wait Out the War in Syria
in response to reader comment: Is Assad Losing?

Submitted by Ismael (Brazil), Aug 28, 2012 at 13:47

Since the terrorist attack against the high officials of the Assad regime, in mid July, when the "rebels" launched their great offensive against Damascus, the press insists that the Assad regime is finished and that the "rebels" are near do total victory in a question of days - weeks at most.
But for me, I viewed this like the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War.
Anyone must remenber the Tet Offensive:
The communist vietcongs rebels, actuating together with the communist soldiers of North Vietnam, launched a great offensive against the positions held by american troops and officials (like the US embassy), and key positions of government of South Vietnam.

The Offensive of Tet was a total failure. All the crazy vietcongs was killed in this totally crazy offensive. They couldn't inflict any serious damaga against the American positions. The vietcong army was almost totally destroyed in the Tet Offensive. 80% of his force was eliminated. Never again the vietcongs was able to recover from such a total defeat. The American and South Vietnam losses were minimal. The victory was in the American hands.

But, in the war of propaganda, all this facts was turned upside down. The image of vietcongs suicidal militias attacking the US embassy was bombed in all the media, giving the false impression that the US troops and officials have lost the war, and were in retreat.
BS. The Left propaganda succeeded in transforming a total and definitive defeat of the communist vietcong militias in a defeat of the "imperialist USA".
The propaganda won the war.

Since the launch of the Tet Offensive, the vietcong leaders knew that they couldn't win. They knew that more than half of his forces were to be destroyed in the doomed offensive - and that the American and South Vietnam soldiers cold destroy them easily, suffering minimal losses, as indeed occurred. But they knew that the propaganda war could win the war for them, and this was what really happened. After the Tet Offensive, the USA soldiers don't bother anymore with the vietcong militias, and could in a question of months launch an offensive against the North Vietnam.

But the Left press and media pressured the US government to call the soldiers back home, giving the army of North Vietnam a time to prepare the invasion of South Vietnam, free of the fear of being defeated by the superior US military forces.

In Syria, i view the same pattern again. The great offensive of the rebels against Damascus was a total failure. They were completely defeated, with great losses. The rebel losses has not been worst because they acknowledged that if they insist they could be destroyed in more than half of his forces. Then, they retreated to the countryside. In reality, the offensive against Damascus was more a piece of propaganda, showing that they colud attack the Syrian capital. The rebels knew that they don't could attain any victory there.

Next, the rebels attacked Aleppo.
In Aleppo the rebels attacked with full force. All depended on this offensive against Aleppo. To Aleppo the rebels sent some of their best soldiers/militia, most of them Libyans, Iraqis and others from Al Qaeda, hardened in combats against US troops in Irak and Afghanistan, and in the civil war in Libya.
They knew that a definitive victory in Aleppo were impossible, since the Syrian government forces were superior and the population of Aleppo don't support the rebel cause, with the majority of the rebels fighting in Aleppo coming from other places, mostly from other countries, as I write above.
The objetive of the rebel leaders were that the rebel militias could withstand the battle in Aleppo for at least 2 weeks, controlling some parts of the city, giving the impression that the Syrian Army was near to the end.

Now, weeks later, the rebels were forced to retreat from Aleppo, after suffering great losses. In Aleppo, the rebels militias suffered so great losses that they only can launch a similar offensive hence months later. If NATO, Turkish and Jordanian troops don't launch the awaited invasion soon, the rebel cause is lost.

Yes, they can fight the Syrian government troops for months in the countryside, even more if new waves of islamist militants arrive in Syria, coming from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Libya, Iraq etc. The rebel cause is counting now with the media support, giving us the impression that they almost defeated the Syrian army, when the contrary was what ocurred. To reinforce this false image, great part of Aleppo was destroyed by the islamist rebels.

Who will be so fool to believe in such a lie?
If the media is well instrumentalized (exploited), this lie can be aired as truth, so that a gret pressure will be upon the Congress to approve the participation "de jure" of American soldiers in the conflict. In the same scenario, the great destruction in Aleppo will be used as a tool to "demonstrate" that the Syrian army is "commiting genocide", and that a "great genocide" will be commited if the NATO don't intervene.

That same tactic was used in Libya.
When Qaddafi was near a total victory against the islamist salafist rebels from Benghazi, the NATO forces bombed the Libyan forces and installations, giving the rebels time to regroup, reload your weapons (with Qatari weapons and ammunition) and coordinate his attacks with NATO bombardments.
Remember the left propaganda upon the Tet Offensive and what happened in Libya when Qaddafi was near a complete victory.

The same pattern is being repeated in Syria now.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (46) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
We cannot do everything everywhere, agree about Syrian intervention [171 words]Richard StoeckerAug 28, 2013 15:40209272
Assad is the lesser of the two evils ! [82 words]Phil GreendFeb 9, 2013 10:35203357
I think we should act, and we should act tomorrow [806 words]ThomasSep 8, 2012 16:19198462
2Your naivete blind you. [467 words]IsmaelSep 10, 2012 01:39198462
1Insightful Article by Robert Frisk [87 words]AhmedSep 7, 2012 14:03198439
1thank-you [104 words]john w mcginleyAug 30, 2012 12:56198256
1Turkey already uccupies Antioch-Antakya which is a part of Syria [47 words]zinovyAug 29, 2012 19:17198250
S against S [30 words]steven LAug 26, 2012 00:43198181
Is Assad Losing? [168 words]kenny komodoAug 25, 2012 08:47198164
1The War Propaganda - Remember the Tet Offensive [926 words]IsmaelAug 28, 2012 13:47198164
1an instinct of guilt [135 words]mythAug 23, 2012 17:27198145
1About time [174 words]David VAug 23, 2012 14:34198142
1And what if assisting anybody anywhere except oneself everywhere is no concern and no objective at all ? [307 words]IanusAug 24, 2012 07:24198142
2but the west does not learn.... [71 words]laisa1942Aug 22, 2012 19:30198127
1One fewer potential rival to worry about [298 words]IanusAug 23, 2012 03:50198127
Agree [8 words]WestieAug 21, 2012 17:51198106
1Question.. [32 words]arild nordbyAug 21, 2012 17:25198105
2The State Department answers your question differently. [571 words]IanusAug 22, 2012 08:44198105
1A morally and military broken world. [42 words]NuritGAug 21, 2012 16:47198104
Well said [21 words]rabbi allen podetAug 21, 2012 16:20198103
2... history ... [189 words]Amjad of ArabiaAug 21, 2012 16:19198102
History [17 words]Nenette GrunbergAug 21, 2012 23:18198102
3Wrong history as usual [930 words]IanusAug 22, 2012 07:37198102
3History don't matter if you control the "Ministry of Truth" [814 words]IsmaelAug 24, 2012 16:37198102
1The American one-party oligarchy and its outlet "Council on Foreign Relations" in praise of "Front for the Protection of the Levantine People" aka al-Qaeda [1504 words]IanusAug 29, 2012 18:05198102
Ianus, you are a very impressive contributor here [25 words]KilljoyAug 30, 2012 23:53198102
1Nothing to brag about , I am sure . [115 words]IanusSep 1, 2012 14:40198102
5Islam - a civilizational WMD [1084 words]IanusSep 1, 2012 16:36198102
Ianus, you have 9 comments judged as "outstanding" by Dr. Pipes [62 words]KilljoySep 2, 2012 11:36198102
6"Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam" by Robert Dreyfuss [1756 words]IanusSep 3, 2012 08:49198102
I never thought '---- [19 words]DemelzaSep 4, 2012 18:08198102
1Something of myself [134 words]IanusSep 5, 2012 14:16198102
Youtube was not exactly the type of forum I had in mind Ianus...... [15 words]KilljoySep 6, 2012 11:38198102
1sunni revenge [129 words]rodney allsworthAug 21, 2012 15:15198098
All Countries need to stay out of Syria [88 words]RedvixenAug 21, 2012 14:23198097
The "Exception" [36 words]B. MiglerAug 21, 2012 13:12198095
1No dog in the fight [189 words]JeffAug 21, 2012 13:08198094
Don't look now... [29 words]PaulAug 21, 2012 12:12198092
Correct except for the chemical arsenal [87 words]Abu NudnikAug 21, 2012 11:01198091
1Let Them Keep Killing Each Other [76 words]STUART KAUFMANAug 21, 2012 09:09198088
1How about the Christian minority in Syria? [43 words]IanusAug 22, 2012 08:53198088
1Let Them Keep Killing Each Other [41 words]STUART KAUFMANAug 22, 2012 18:03198088
4The US prepares the same fate for Syrian Christians as for Turkish or Iraqi Christians-genocide or expulsion through its jihadist cronies [577 words]IanusAug 23, 2012 03:03198088
5The Copts of Egypt [649 words]dhimmi no moreAug 25, 2012 08:48198088
How can you be so sure that Assad will lose? [95 words]Henk TwerdaAug 21, 2012 05:49198082
2Helping Syria [60 words]Dennis GarwitzAug 21, 2012 02:52198079

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