Sydney Uni academic defends Assad

Sydney academic rejects evidence of Syria’s chemical warfare, and calls Trump and Obama “terror masterminds”.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with Australian professor Tim Anderson in 2013. Picture: AP

Sydney University is standing by one of its high-profile academics who accused US Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama of being the “masterminds of terrorism in the Middle East” while defending Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad against claims he ordered a deadly chemical weapon strike against civilians.

Dr Tim Anderson, who in 1978 was acquitted of the Sydney Hilton bombing and now lectures in economics and international politics, has sent a scathing series of tweets and social media posts over the past few days saying President Trump authorised “vanity terrorism” missile strikes in Syria to “prove he was better than Obama”.

Former President Obama, meanwhile, “covertly financed and armed ALL the terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq” in his plan for a “New Middle East”.

Dr Anderson, who has visited Syria and personally met al-Assad in 2013, rejected reports the Syrian government orchestrated a chemical weapons strike in the country’s northern Idlib province last week. According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights at least 87 people, including 31 children and 20 women, were killed in the April 4 attack, in which Sarin gas was reportedly used causing victims to collapse and foam at the mouth. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the attack as “a war crime of the worst sort.”

“There is no credible evidence that the Syrian Army has ever used chemical weapons, 2011-2017,” Dr Anderson wrote on his Facebook page, which has 13,000 followers. “al Qa’ida’s multiple use of (chemical weapons), on the other hand, is well documented, in independent evidence.”

In a tweet, he wrote: “I don’t recall Adolf Hitler being accused of targeting German civilians. Either Bashar al Assad is worse than Hitler, or al Qa’ida is lying.”

And another: “The war on Syria was always a conspiracy by powerful states to destroy an independent Arab nation.”

Dr Anderson and Assad. .

The US launched about 50 Tomahawk missiles from warships at targets in Syria as a response to the attack. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after the gas attack: “It would seem that there would be no role for (Mr Assad) to govern the Syrian people.”

The University of Sydney today said while it does not endorse Dr Anderson’s views, it allows its academics to freely comment on issues “in their area of expertise”.

“While the University of Sydney does not endorse the statements expressed by Dr Tim Anderson, the University is committed to the expression and protection of free speech,” a spokeswoman said.

“Academic staff are free to contribute to public comment in their area of expertise under terms outlined in the University’s Public Comment policy. This means tolerance of a wide range of views, even when the views expressed are unpopular or controversial.”

#Fakemedia fails. LOL. How could #Washington have done anything wrong in their last six wars in the middle east? Dirty War on #Syria. https://t.co/d8zb1i0uFG

— tim anderson (@timand2037) April 10, 2017

Australian media 'watchdog' goes toothless, defending state & corporate war media from independent critics. #Syria. @ABCmediawatch. pic.twitter.com/z0KT1mNrqs

— tim anderson (@timand2037) April 10, 2017

Federal Education Minister told The Daily Telegraph the university should investigate Dr Anderson’s comments, and whether his views have filtered into the course content for students.

“Although universities are places where ideas should be contested, that’s no excuse for being an apologist for (the Assad regimen),” Senator Birmingham said.

After his views were reported in the media, including on the ABC’s Media Watch program, Dr Anderson described Australian reporting as “shallow”.

“Australian media ‘watchdog’ goes toothless, defending state & corporate war media from independent critics,” he tweeted. On Facebook, “LOL, Sky News / Daily Telegraph try to defend war on Syria through pathetic personal attack. How dare anyone accuse the US of imperialism, why those last five wars were all humanitarian deeds!”

Attorney-General George Brandis told The Daily Telegraph he was saddened to learn of Dr Anderson’s outspoken critique of President Trump.

“It is disappointing that Dr Anderson cannot see the moral clarity of President Trump’s decision,” he said.