Posted on 04/26/2013 5:27:46 AM PDT by SJackson
- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com -
Syria Calls Obama’s Chemical Weapons Bluff
Posted By Alan W. Dowd On April 26, 2013 @ 12:58 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 14 Comments
So, we now have three trusted intelligence agenciesIsraels, Britains and Francesdeclaring that a number of chemical agents have been deployed in the Syrian civil war. Arriving latetoo lateat the same obvious conclusion, the United States has finally agreed with its allies.
The Brits and French base their assessment on soil samples and interviews, and report that chemical weapons have been used in Aleppo, Homs and perhaps Damascus. U.S. and British intelligence agencies conclude that sarin was used. Both Britain and France doubt that rebel forces have access to chemical weaponry. An Israeli general reports that the regime used chemical weapons against fighters in a series of incidents in recent months apparently sarin. A chlorine-type gas known as CL 17 may also have been used. ABC News reports, hyper-salivation eye pain seizures loss of consciousness among victims in Aleppo. In nearby Aftrin, survivors report a sharp, bitter odor that stung their eyes, according to ABC. Doctors in Aleppo administered as much atropine as they had on handtoo bad that wasnt included in Secretary of State John Kerrys nonlethal aid packageand sure enough, it helped victims survive. Importantly, atropine is used as an antidote to nerve agent.
Whats happening in Syria and whats not happening in Washington is importantand not just for strategic reasons (the ouster of Bashar Assad would strike a blow against Iran and limit Irans reach) or humanitarian reasons (some 70,000 people have died in a war that, like Libya in 2011 and Bosnia in the 1990s, could be ended by the application of U.S. power). The unanswered, unpunished use of chemical weapons in Syria is important because of what President Barack Obama said last year.
Last August, in full-fledged campaign dudgeon, the president warned that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a red line for his administration. A whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized, he said, with his stentorian self-assurance, would change my calculus. Chemical weapons, he warned, would be a game-changer.
Not exactly. Chemical weapons are being used, and nothing is changing in the Oval Office. It pays to recall that this under-the-radar chemical war is anything but unexpected. We always knew that Assad possessed one of the largest chemical-weapons programs on earth, including mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agent. We always knew Syria had mated these weapons with artillery shells and missilery. We always knew that Syria had five major chemical-manufacturing facilities and some 45 chemical-weapons storage facilities. We have always worriedat least since 9/11about jihadist groups gaining access to someones unguarded WMDs. And we know from historySaddam Hussein in Iraqi Kurdistan, Assads father in Hamathat dictators pushed into a corner will do about anything to survive.
Moreover, outside observers warned and worried about loose chemical weapons during Libyas civil war in 2011. And the warnings continued to sound as the anti-autocracy rebellion swept into Syria. In fact, in this space last July, I concluded that the notion that Barack Obamathe anti-Bushwould launch attacks against Syria in order to preempt the use or transfer of WMDs is as unthinkable as, well, what might happen with those WMDs.
And here we are.
This sort of inaction is easy to criticize. But Obamas inaction in the face of Assads crimes is especially glaring in light of Obamas intervention in Libya. Recall that in announcing his decision to attack Moammar Gadhafis forces, Obama declared , We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy where innocent men and women face brutality and death at the hands of their own government.
If that sounds like todays Syriaand it doesObamas inaction looks like yesterdays response to the mangling of Bosnia. Now, as in Bosnia circa 1993, a well-armed regime is warring against an under-equipped and sometimes-unsavory rebel force. Now, as then, a dictator is winning by default, because Washington is unwilling to answer the call for help. Now, as then, the United States refuses to act, and the world follows suit.
Yet the presidents greatest failure in Syria is not in refusing to interveneindeed, a case can be made on cold, calculating, Kissingerian grounds that America should stay the hell out of Assads sandboxbut rather in threatening to intervene in the event of a chemical-weapons attack and then failing to follow through.
Whether democracy in Damascus is worth risking American blood is open to debatewhether democracy will even take root in Damascus is open to debatebut the importance of American credibility is not. Maintaining the global taboo against using these weapons is not. As Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel observes, it violates every convention of warfare. The president fails to grasp these truths. And placing far too much trust in the power of his own words, he fails to understand that actions always speak louder than words. By averting his gaze from Syrias chemical-laced civil war, he has sent a message around the world that can be understood in every language: Push the envelope as far as you want. Commit any outrage you want. Use any weapon at your disposal. Washingtons words are empty.
I bet Kerry got a STFU call from the President. Obama’s only hope is to get the media to bury the story.
I called it a schizophrenic foreign policy.
McCain has never been against any intervention for as long as I can remember and is always complaining there isn’t more.
If it was up to him the US would be a military state like North Korea with 25% GDP spent on the Pentagon and 150 countries around the world under direct occupation with governors appointed by Washington DC. Even then he’ll find something to complain about.
In short he’s a joke.
If you draw a line in the sand, you should already know what your response is going to be ... you’ve had time to plan for almost all realistic contingencies. It’s shows a complete ineptitude that they waited till the ‘red line’ was crossed to make the decision that now they have to plan their ‘next steps’.
Every news conference of the coward in chief’s PR guy:
- been in close contact with our allies in the region
- closely monitoring the situation
- put the regime on even more notice
- leaving all options on the table
Obama’s red line is now Obama’s PINK line..
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