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Obama Aide On Syria's Assad: 'If He Drops Sarin On His Own People, What’s That Got Do Do With Us?'
Weekly Standard ^

Posted on 05/05/2013 7:19:04 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

Obama Aide On Syria's Assad: 'If He Drops Sarin On His Own People, What’s That Got Do Do With Us?' Daniel Halper May 5, 2013 10:12 AM

President Barack Obama got ahead of himself and his advisers when he said that Syria using chemical weapons would cross a "red line," the New York Times reports.

“How can we attack another country unless it’s in self-defense and with no Security Council resolution?” an unnamed Obama administration official tells the paper. “If he drops sarin on his own people, what’s that got to do with us?”

But they concluded that drawing a firm line might deter Mr. Assad. In addition to secret messages relayed through Russia, Iran and other governments, they decided that the president would publicly address the matter.

Several officials said they recalled no discussion about the “red line” phrase but suspected that it came out of the election-year conversation about Iran and how far to allow its nuclear program to progress before being forced to take action. It was a concept that was “embedded in people’s prefrontal cortex,” one of the officials said.

While surprised at the president’s use of the term in regard to Syria on Aug. 20, advisers concluded that it had succeeded, at least for a while, since months passed with no chemical weapons attack.

But if the tough rhetoric "succeeded" for a time, it appears to have backfired in the long-run. Because Syria has now apparently used chemical weapons, and President Obama is not willing to do anything about it.

In fact, Obama is now downplaying any sort of response, even before settling on a specific response to Syrai crossing the red line.

“As a general rule, I don’t rule things out as commander in chief because circumstances change and you want to make sure that I always have the full power of the United States at our disposal to meet American national security interests,” Obama commented on Syria, while speaking at news conference in Costa Rica. Then, Obama went on to contradict himself.

“Having said that, I do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in Syria, American boots on the ground in Syria, would not only be good for America, but also would be good for Syria,” the president said.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Russia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: israel; russia; syria; syriaredline; syriawar; waronterror
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To: MinorityRepublican

We need to stay out of Syria. We should have kept Obastard’s filthy grubs off of Libya, too. There is no national interest in getting involved in any of these third-world carpholes.


41 posted on 05/05/2013 9:33:45 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (I am a dissident. Will you join me? My name is John....)
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To: Sub-Driver

The only thing keeping Obama from bombing Syria is Russia.

He bombed Libya because the UN told him to.

If Russia wasn’t blocking everything related to Syria in the UN we’d be waist deep already.


42 posted on 05/05/2013 9:40:06 AM PDT by Pan_Yan (I believe in God. All else is dubious.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
President Obama is right on this. Why should we be involved in Syria?

WRONG! You would have been 100% right ONLY if Obama had stated that from the beginning instead of creating some fake "red line" which he drew for North Korea and Iran.

Now OUR enemies are watching our response.

Like you I also do no think we should have gotten involved. But we are now, unless the words of the USA mean NOTHING in the world.

43 posted on 05/05/2013 9:41:39 AM PDT by tsowellfan (www.cafenetamerica.com)
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To: Sub-Driver

Hey “O”, don’t talk the big bad talk if you can’t back it up. What a smarmy POS!


44 posted on 05/05/2013 9:42:12 AM PDT by thegrump (The US is not at war with Islam, but Islam sure as H%!! is at war with the US.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Central bankers want Syria to turn its nationally-owned central bank into a privately-held central bank, i.e., to be absorbed into the BIS/globalist realm.

This is what happened in Libya.

Terrorism works on behalf of globalism, however only the uppermost echelons of terror leadership realize who they’re really working for. Most just see ideology, money, power and lust. They do not know the private dealings of the leadership of their organizations.


45 posted on 05/05/2013 9:43:02 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen (We have to fix things ourselves)
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To: dagogo redux
How can you be agreeing with Obama AND stating that this has NOTHING to do with us.

The man drew a RED LINE and it was crossed. North Korea and Iran are watching.

Me, I do not agree with Obama. We never should have gotten involved with Syria but we did.

46 posted on 05/05/2013 9:43:50 AM PDT by tsowellfan (www.cafenetamerica.com)
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To: tsowellfan
President Obama is right on this. Why should we be involved in Syria? WRONG! You would have been 100% right ONLY if Obama had stated that from the beginning instead of creating some fake "red line" which he drew for North Korea and Iran. Now OUR enemies are watching our response. Like you I also do no think we should have gotten involved. But we are now, unless the words of the USA mean NOTHING in the world.

Agreed! When will the American people and Congress learn that anything this POS says is a lie.

47 posted on 05/05/2013 9:45:52 AM PDT by thegrump (The US is not at war with Islam, but Islam sure as H%!! is at war with the US.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

“President Obama is right on this. Why should we be involved in Syria?”

Then say that. Don’t tell the American people how firm you are because your lap dogs, the Mediacrats will cover for you.

It isn’t he has no credibility. It’s the next President will have to clean up the mess.


48 posted on 05/05/2013 9:47:34 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (The reason we own guns is to protect ourselves from those wanting to take our guns from us.)
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To: Notary Sojac

“i don’t find anything inappropriate about that comment.”

Isn’t that why we went into Iraq?


49 posted on 05/05/2013 9:49:38 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (The reason we own guns is to protect ourselves from those wanting to take our guns from us.)
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To: Sub-Driver

An American president has to back up his own words. We know Obama is a cowardly leader, disloyal as he is being guided (misguided in truth against the US interests) by the UN. I wouldn’t trust Obama leading any war to be honest. We are doomed either way with him because he is already proving he leads by the political winds to appease his inner circle (who give him directions). He doesn’t care if our own people die nor care about innocent people who are being slandered (Turn your heads; it always works for the democrats) See Hillary. We all know what should happen but the world is prominently an appeaser to radicalism of one religion.


50 posted on 05/05/2013 9:57:27 AM PDT by Christie at the beach
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To: MinorityRepublican
In retrospect, the invasion of Iraq to remove Saddam and his sons was probably right. Only after “mission accomplished” banner, we should had gotten the hell out and left the Ba’athist Army in charge of Iraq. The mess afterwards was not our problem.

The Ba'athist Army dissolved, leaving the country wide open for Iran. That was the problem, but it was also an opportunity we blew big-time. If we went in there, we should have had a plan to sucker the Mullahs into letting us finish the job. We'd have saved a lot of money.

51 posted on 05/05/2013 10:01:44 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (An economy is not a zero-sum game, but politics usually is.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

“President Obama is right on this. Why should we be involved in Syria?”


To prevent Saddam’s WMDs From Iraq that we could not find from finding us?


52 posted on 05/05/2013 10:10:40 AM PDT by rdcbn
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To: Sub-Driver

Setting aside morality, Assad prevailing and having to rebuild over a decade or more, with sabotage and insurgent attacks in perpetuity.

How is that not preferable to Syria governed the Muslim Brotherhood or Al Quada? They won’t give a damn about rebuilding or even the appearance of such, they’ll set about funding and supplying the fall of the next government -furthering the caliphate.

Setting aside morality, hobbling Assad, but keeping him in place may be the best outcome for infidels.


53 posted on 05/05/2013 10:11:24 AM PDT by Fitzy_888 ("ownership society")
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To: MinorityRepublican

Let them kill each other till the cows come home. There is absolutely no US strategic interest there. Not one more drop of American blood for muzzies.


54 posted on 05/05/2013 10:14:46 AM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: Sub-Driver

play golf or go to bed as he did when informed of Libya and Americans dying.


55 posted on 05/05/2013 10:14:58 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

56 posted on 05/05/2013 10:16:12 AM PDT by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do !)
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To: Sub-Driver

What a stinking coward.


57 posted on 05/05/2013 10:20:28 AM PDT by Monkey Face (Even the smallest star shines in the darkness.)
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To: tsowellfan
Now OUR enemies are watching our response.

Our enemies have been watching long enough to know Obama is nothing more than a community organizer, and incompetent CIC and a world class joke. Worse yet, they think that of us as Americans for putting the nit wit in office. No matter what he does, the branding will stick. I say let evil destroy evil and do nothing until the dust settles. We, or the Israelis can deal with whatever remains after wards if WMD is indeed a threat.

58 posted on 05/05/2013 10:22:58 AM PDT by trubolotta
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To: Sub-Driver
Canto XIV Io venni in luogo d'ogni luce muto; The stench of wet coal, politicians . . . . . . . . . . e and. . . . . n, their wrists bound to their ankles, Standing bare bum, Faces smeared on their rumps, wide eye on flat buttock, Bush hanging for beard, Addressing crowds through their arse-holes, Addressing the multitudes in the ooze, newts, water-slugs, water-maggots, And with them. . . . . . . r, a scrupulously clean table-napkin Tucked under his penis, and. . . . . . . . . . . m Who disliked colioquial language, stiff-starched, but soiled, collars circumscribing his legs, The pimply and hairy skin pushing over the collar's edge, Profiteers drinking blood sweetened with sh-t, And behind them. . . . . . f and the financiers lashing them with steel wires. And the betrayers of language . . . . . . n and the press gang And those who had lied for hire; the perverts, the perverters of language, the perverts, who have set money-lust Before the pleasures of the senses; howling, as of a hen-yard in a printing-house, the clatter of presses, the blowing of dry dust and stray paper, fretor, sweat, the stench of stale oranges, dung, last cess-pool of the universe, mysterium, acid of sulphur, the pusillanimous, raging; plunging jewels in mud, and howling to find them unstained; sadic mothers driving their daughters to bed with decrepitude, sows eating their litters, and here the placard ΕΙΚΩΝ ΓΗΣ, and here: THE PERSONNEL CHANGES, melting like dirty wax, decayed candles, the bums sinking lower, faces submerged under hams, And in the ooze under them, reversed, foot-palm to foot-palm, hand-palm to hand-palm, the agents provocateurs The murderers of Pearse and MacDonagh, Captain H. the chief torturer; The petrified turd that was Verres, bigots, Calvin and St. Clement of Alexandria! black-beetles, burrowing into the sh-t, The soil a decrepitude, the ooze full of morsels, lost contours, erosions. Above the hell-rot the great arse-hole, broken with piles, hanging stalactites, greasy as sky over Westminster, the invisible, many English, the place lacking in interest, last squalor, utter decrepitude, the vice-crusaders, fahrting through silk, waving the Christian symbols, . . . . . . . . frigging a tin penny whistle, Flies carrying news, harpies dripping sh-t through the air. The slough of unamiable liars, bog of stupidities, malevolent stupidities, and stupidities, the soil living pus, full of vermin, dead maggots begetting live maggots, slum owners, usurers squeezing crab-lice, pandars to authori pets-de-loup, sitting on piles of stone books, obscuring the texts with philology, hiding them under their persons, the air without refuge of silence, the drift of lice, teething, and above it the mouthing of orators, the arse-belching of preachers. And Invidia, the corruptio, fretor, fungus, liquid animals, melted ossifications, slow rot, fretid combustion, chewed cigar-butts, without dignity, without tragedy . . . . .m Episcopus, waving a condom full of black-beetles, monopolists, obstructors of knowledge. obstructors of distribution. ..... by Ezra Pound
59 posted on 05/05/2013 10:30:02 AM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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To: BenLurkin

Maybe they want to save this option for some Domestic Tea Loving Terrorists?


60 posted on 05/05/2013 10:56:17 AM PDT by Shady (Libya shows us how Americans rate...)
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