US President Donald Trump’s approval of an expanded military mission to secure an expanse of oil fields across eastern Syria is a “supreme” form of war crime against a sovereign nation, an American scholar says. RNA - “Sending troops into another country to take and keep its oil is obviously a prime example of the supreme war crime of aggression,” said Kevin Barrett, an author, journalist and radio host with a Ph.D. in Islamic and Arabic Studies.
“The United States has committed the supreme war crime of aggression many, many dozens, if not hundreds of times,” Barrett told Press TV on Thursday.
“American presidents are universally war criminals essentially…and we’re living in a regime ruled by gangsters,” he added.
“Trump admits it; he is obviously a gangster,” Barrett said. “The US has been a essentially a criminal state now for generations.”
Trump said Monday a small number of US troops remain in Syria to “secure” the war-torn country’s oil fields. Trump's comments followed a US pullout from northeastern Syria.
Members of Congress, as well some US legal experts, have also raised objections to the Trump administration plan.
“Risking the lives of our troops to guard oil rigs in eastern Syria is not only reckless, it’s not legally authorized,” Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, told The Associated Press.
Washington has deployed several thousand US troops to Syria since 2014 to supposedly fight Dsesh terrorists, using the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which was passed by Congress after the September 11 terror attacks.
“The US is not at war with either Syria or Turkey, making the use of the AUMF a stretch,” said Stephen Vladeck, a national security law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Speaking on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sarcastically praised Trump for admitting that he intends to “secure" the Syrian oil.
“At least President Trump is honest to say what the United States intends to do,” Zarif quipped.
847/940