I rarely watch mainstream news, but it’s been on at hostels I’ve been traveling through and I am amazed by how much attention is being paid to refugees leaving Syria and entering Europe and how little coverage is given to the actual war. Meanwhile, Obama is echoing calls of his predecessor in regards to Saddam, asking Assad to step down. However, not one mainstream source is asking the question that needs to be asked: how do we stop America, the UK and Europe from funding the terrorism in Syria that is driving people from their homelands?

In 2007, General Wesley Clark told Democracy Now that during years of Bush, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, there was a desire to push regime change throughout the middle east. The Bush administration wanted to invade Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran1. Bush claimed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, Saddam was asked by Bush to step down, an invasion occurred and it turned out all those claims about weapons of mass destruction were false2.

In 2013, Obama made similar claims about the Syrian regime and advocated military intervention. This time, the opposition was strong. The American people were not for another invasion and Russian refused to vote on a UN measure to approve military action, causing Obama to back down3. During this time, it’s important to note that President Bashar al-Assad’s claimed the chemical weapons attacks were between jihadists and rebels, not by his government4.

It’s now 2015. Obama calls for Assad to step down from power5. It’s the exact same rhetoric Bush made against Saddam prior to the 2003 invasion. With threats again of military intervention, it’s 2013 all over again. But this time things are a little different. Now there is a civil war and refugees flooding out of Syria and into many countries in neighboring Europe.

The anti-refugee sentiment is strong in much of Europe. Those who are against the influx are not just uneducated conservatives. German scientist Gangolf Jobb has banned the use of his Treefinder software in countries that are open to refugees6. The following taken from the software’s website:

“The reason: I am no longer willing to support with my work the political system in Europe and Germany, of which the science system is part. There is no genuine democracy, and I disagree with almost all of the policies. In particular, I disagree with immigration policy. Immigration to my country harms me, it harms my family, it harms my people. Whoever invites or welcomes immigrants to Europe and Germany is my enemy. Immigration is the huge corporations’ interest, not peoples’ interest. I am not against helping refugees, but they would have to be kept strictly separated from us Europeans, for some limited time only until they return home, and not being integrated here as cheap workers and additional consumers. Immigration unnecessarily defers the collapse of capitalism, its final crisis. The earlier the system crashes, the more damage can be avoided. Possibly a civil war in Europe. Not to mention the loss of our European genetic and cultural heritage7.”

Meanwhile, ISIS leaders have admitted that they have been funded by the United States8. President Assad has stated that the cause of the refugee problem is the continual support by other nations in domestic terrorism within Syria.

““It’s not about that Europe didn’t accept them or embrace them as refugees, it’s about not dealing with the cause. If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists. That’s what we think regarding the crisis. This is the core of the whole issue of refugees.” -President Assad9

So what does all this mean? In 2013, Obama failed to take American and the western world to war with Syria, a plan that has been in place since the days of the Bush administration’s original invasion of Iraq in 2003. Today, he is calling for the exact same thing, but this time the US has taken the additional steps of causing a refugee crisis. By supporting and funding ISIS, the United States and its allies are forcing people from their homes and in effect, increasing anti-immigration sentiment.

The hatred by European citizens is essential because it will cause their own people to rise the drums of war under the banner of stopping the civil war, ending the Assad regime and returning the Syrian people to their homeland. I believe if we objectivity look at the current situation in Syria in the context of the past decade, it will be obvious at the entire refugee situation was carefully planned as a means to justified the continual and endless war necessary for the US and its allies to continue to extend their empire and military dominance upon the world.

1 Wesley Clark Interview with Democracy Now. 2 March 2007. Democracy Now.

2 No, Iraq Didn’t Have ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ After All. 15 October 2014. McKay. Mic.

3 Syria crisis: Barack Obama puts military strike on hold. 11 September 2013. BBC.

4 ‘War-weary’ Obama says Syria chemical attack requires response. 31 August, 2013. Pleitgen and Cohen. CNN.

5 Obama reiterates his call for Syria’s Assad to step down. 1 October 2015. Parsons. LA Times.

6 Scientist says researchers in immigrant-friendly nations can’t use his software. 29 September 2015. Kupferschmidt. Science AAAS.

7 License change in October 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.

8 ISIS leader admits to being funded by the US. 16 September 2015. Motroc. Australian National Review.

9 ‘If you are worried about refugees, stop supporting terrorists’ – Assad interview 15 September 2015. RT.