Posted on 09/09/2013 7:10:41 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Via the Free Beacon, Ed mentioned this already but a foreign-policy soundbite this immortal — maybe the greatest since “leading from behind” — requires video, especially with Assad claiming that his response might not be quite as teeny tiny. Kerry’s Syria pronouncements are aimed at three audiences — the majority of Congress, which worries about mission creep if they greenlight this fiasco; the McCainian hawkish minority, which wants mission creep in the sense that they want more support for the rebels in the name of regime change; and of course Assad and Iran, who need to have the fear of God put into them if they’re going to think twice about using gas again. How do you satisfy each of those audiences in your public pronouncements if you’re the Secretary of State? I don’t know, and neither does this guy, apparently. Last week he assured Chris Hayes that one happy consequence of U.S. intervention will be to empower moderate rebels as an alternative to the jihadis, which made it sound like America’s goals in this were broader than simply bloodying Assad’s nose for using WMD. Good news for McCainians, not so good for everyone else, and it’s that “everyone else” in Congress that’s their big problem right now. So here’s Waffles waffling back towards the doves by promising that any attack will be “unbelievably small,” which is just what you want to hear if you’re prepared to gamble your House seat on a big show of American muscle abroad.
And it’s not just Kerry. Different White House actors are saying different things to please/frighten their various audiences. Alex Massie cuts through it at the Spectator UK:
But since the purpose of the raid is – and no-one sensible disputes this, I think – just to send a message to Assad and other tyrants that the use of chemical weapons is something up with which the international community will not put it makes very little sense to send a message that’s so unbelievably small neither Assad nor his counterparts elsewhere will feel the need to read or otherwise get it. And if the message is not received it has not, in this instance, been sent either.
And since, moreover, the case for military action also rests upon the sense that American (and western) credibility is on the line vis a vis Syria (and all future foreign entanglements) it seems foolish to make a virtue out of the fact that this action is actually going to be, as Kerry puts it, unbelievably small. What price credibility then?
Here’s a more colorful way to think about it:
The strike, as envisioned, would be limited in the number of targets and done within a day or two. It could be completed in one fell swoop with missiles, said one senior official familiar with the weapons involved. A smaller, follow-on strike could be launched if targets aren’t sufficiently damaged.
A second senior official, who has seen the most recent planning, offered this metaphor to describe such a strike: If Assad is eating Cheerios, we’re going to take away his spoon and give him a fork. Will that degrade his ability to eat Cheerios? Yes. Will it deter him? Maybe. But he’ll still be able to eat Cheerios.
As goofy as that it, it’s a nifty way to sum up what they’re going for here. They don’t want to stop him from eating Cheerios altogether, just make things a bit harder for him so that they can semi-plausibly claim success later. The McCainians will trumpet that we’ve “degraded” Assad’s capabilities, doves will sigh with relief that we haven’t been dragged in deeper, and the White House can rest assured that they didn’t do anything (like killing Assad) that would cause too much extra chaos in Syria. Remember, the U.S. goal here isn’t regime change, as much as O pays lip services to that from time to time. The goal is to negotiate a settlement between Sunnis and Alawites that will preserve an uneasy balance of power. Kill Assad and that probably becomes less likely, either because the regime will start to implode despite Iran’s best efforts to hold it together or because the Shiites, as retaliation, will begin to behave even more ruthlessly. If either side “wins” on the battlefield by rolling over the other, sectarian cleansing is likely to result. The White House figures, probably rightly, that if a peace deal is reached, having Assad in charge to restrain the Shiites will be more helpful in preventing that cleansing than taking him out now would be.
Your homework assignment is the RAND study concluding that there’s no guarantee that a conflict designed to be “unbelievably small” would stay that way for long. Exit question via Jim Geraghty: Didn’t the White House … just expand the Pentagon’s target list in Syria last week? Cruise missiles, jets, bombers — when Kerry says “unbelievably small,” maybe he means that literally. I.e. when they call it “small,” it’s unbelievable.
Update: Maverick is unhappy:
In this case I think they are planning to shoot a goat and a stray camel.
Very Likely.....LOL!
“Unbelievably small...” and so are their “members”.
LOL...a Brit channeling Winston! Most excellent.
>> I think they are planning to shoot a goat
Well, yeah, but they’ll sterilize a terrorist with the same shot.
It’s not much, but Jean Kerree DID say “unbelievably small”.
Lob a cherry bomb?
We’re America stoopit.
We don’t do anything small.
Why bother?
A damn disgrace. History will judge these ass clowns.
Maybe some unfortunate “vetted enemy” in Syria will have a grain of rice embedded in his butt, like the injury John F’n Kerry got in Viet Nam. That’s incredibly small.
I was about to put on my Language Police hat and call this guy out on his faulty grammar. Then it became clear to me that he did it deliberately, in order to make fun of Obama, Kerry, and the other idiots he is criticizing.
It clearly is a deliberate echo of a famous, comic pronouncement by Winston Churchill:
"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."
about the size of Kerry's brain...
I keep thinking about 5 O Clock Charlie from MASH when Kerry and Obama talk about the strike
Mooch could confirm this for us; as if we didn’t already know.
But given her considerable size.... OK, I’m not going there.
Obama’s interest in invading non-enemy Syria has nothing to do with Syria, poison gas, or children.
Obama’s interest in bombing non-enemy Syria has everything to do with creating a long-lasting, controversial, DISTRACTION for Congress in order to keep Congress from defunding Obama”care”/Boehnerkare.
Obama’s “Red Herring” for the 9-11 Benghazi Massacre Coverup was Susan Rice’s fake Video story.
Obama’s “Red Herring” for distracting Congress until Obama”care”/ Boehnerkare kicks in October 1 is Obama’s “Crossing HIS personal Red Line” distraction speech.
Obama speaks only for Obama, not the US Federal Government or America.
REMEMBER BENGHAZI !
_____________________________________
“Jellyfish Spine” Boehner as Speaker of the House is essential to Obama’s continued unchallenged destruction of the US Constitution.
Nothing will change as long as cave-in artists Boehner and Cantor are in leadership roles in the US House of Representatives.
If Boehner is replaced as Speaker with a fighter such as Col. Allen West, then the Articles of Impeachment for B. Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro, can be quickly issued.
The problem is not with Obama, as he is just doing what Communist Tyrants are trained to do.
The problem is not with Boehner, as he loves to lose and wallow in the disgrace of being the worst Speaker of the House, EVER.
The problem lies with our sorry, spineless, RINOs in the House who refuse to replace Boehner with a proven fighter.
BTW, the members of the House can choose anybody to be their Speaker, even if that person is not a current Member of the House.
Tick-tock, long-time House RINOs, tick-tock - - - - .
_____________
Obama and Holder are publicly speaking about their ‘plan of the week’ that are just more smokescreen distractions to divert attention away from the incompetent manner Obama has handled his day job.
The best indicator of a PHONY ADMINISTRATION is the number of its REAL SCANDALS.
Commie Tyrant Obama’s current talking points are thus smokescreen distractions for the products of Obama’s first 4 years in office:
* Refusal to close US Southern Border to Mexican illegal alien invaders
* No known un-forged records of Place of Birth
* No known un-forged records of University grades
* Benghazi Massacre
* Dereliction of Duty as CIC during Benghazi Massacre
* Cover up of Benghazi Massacre
* Destruction of Seal Team Six
* Cover up of Fast and Furious murder of US Border Agent by Exec. Order
* IRS-Obama’care” Commune Death Grip on Wealth and Health
* NSA-Gestapo Death Grip on all citizen’s communications
* Use of Courts against News Media
* Use of Supreme Court to install Un-Constitutional Obama’care’ Tax
* Destruction of the US Coal Industry
* Refusal to permit XL Pipeline construction
* Trillion Dollar a year Federal Overspending
* Monthly violations of the US Constitution by Obama
* Use of Exec. Orders to bypass Congress.
REPLACE sniveling coward Speaker Boehner with a FIGHTER!
It is time to IMPEACH Tyrant B. Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro.
_______________________
Tyrant B. Hussein Obama, (aka Barry Soetoro), continues his unopposed efforts to expand Totalitarian Obamanation in Liberty-based America.
Where are the Republican opponents of Tyrant Obama?
Why have the Articles of Impeachment for Tyrant Obama not been issued by US House Speaker Boehner, or Pro-Welfare Republicans Cantor or Ryan?
Have House and Senate Pro-Welfare Republicans formed a cave-in pact with Pro-Welfare Democrats to protect Tyrant Obama?
The main thing that Speaker Boehner is afraid of is being blamed for doing his job.
Speaker Boehner’s job now is to shut down the NON-ESSENTIAL parts of the US Federal Government until Obama’care’ is ABOLISHED, and keep it shut down for however long it takes.
Obama will continue to ruin America as long as Boehner is Speaker of the US House of Represenatives.
Four + years of Boehner has proven Boehner to be unfit to combat Tyrant Obama.
It is now up to the Members of the House to replace Boehner so that the new Speaker can shut down the non-essential parts of the US Federal Government ASAP in order to ABOLISH Obama’care.’
How small? So small you will never know it happened.
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