Posted on 08/31/2013 5:51:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
Over the past week, President Barack Obama and his senior advisers have told us that the US is poised to go to war against Syria. In the next few days, the US intends to use its air power and guided missiles to attack Syria in response to the regime's use of chemical weapons in the outskirts of Damascus last week.
The questions that ought to have been answered before any statements were made by the likes of Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel have barely been raised in the public arena. The most important of those questions are: What US interests are at stake in Syria? How should the US go about advancing them? What does Syria's use of chemical weapons means for the US's position in the region? How would the planned US military action in Syria impact US deterrent strength, national interests and credibility regionally and worldwide? Syria is not an easy case. Thirty months into the war there, it is clear that the good guys, such as they are, are not in a position to win.
Syria is controlled by Iran and its war is being directed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and by Hezbollah. And arrayed against them are rebel forces dominated by al-Qaida.
As US Sen. Ted Cruz explained this week, "Of nine rebel groups [fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad], seven of them may well have some significant ties to al-Qaida."
With no good horse to bet on, the US and its allies have three core interests relating to the war. First, they have an interest in preventing Syria's chemical, biological and ballistic missile arsenals from being used against them either directly by the regime, through its terror proxies or by a successor regime.
Second, the US and its allies have an interest in containing the war as much as possible to Syria itself.
Finally, the US and its allies share an interest in preventing Iran, Moscow or al-Qaida from winning the war or making any strategic gains from their involvement in the war.
For the past two-and-a-half years, Israel has been doing an exemplary job of securing the first interest. According to media reports, the IDF has conducted numerous strikes inside Syria to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry, including missiles from Syria to Hezbollah.
Rather than assist Israel in its efforts that are also vital to US strategic interests, the US has been endangering these Israeli operations. US officials have repeatedly leaked details of Israel's operations to the media. These leaks have provoked several senior Israeli officials to express acute concern that in providing the media with information regarding these Israeli strikes, the Obama administration is behaving as if it is interested in provoking a war between Israel and Syria. The concerns are rooted in a profound distrust of US intentions, unprecedented in the 50-year history of US-Israeli strategic relations.
The second US interest threatened by the war in Syria is the prospect that the war will not be contained in Syria. Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan specifically are threatened by the carnage. To date, this threat has been checked in Jordan and Lebanon. In Jordan, US forces along the border have doubtlessly had a deterrent impact in preventing the infiltration of the kingdom by Syrian forces.
In Lebanon, given the huge potential for spillover, the consequences of the war in Syria have been much smaller than could have been reasonably expected. Hezbollah has taken a significant political hit for its involvement in the war in Syria. On the ground, the spillover violence has mainly involved Shi'ite and Shi'ite jihadists targeting one another.
Nonsense.
The Tyrant’s Administration of Czars and Jarrett
have a few goals not mentioned:
1. Destroy US military and US security.
2. Help al Qaeda
(as if MANPADs, SAMs and sarin were not enuf)
3. Arrange blowback to kill Jews in Israel and
Christians in Syria (just like Egypt).
Leve these people alone to kill each other in peace.
Why do we feel compelled to get involved when our enemies are killing one another?
I don’t think I’ve ever heard 0 stutter and try to ‘uh his way through a press conference as much as he did yesterday. You can look at the man and tell he’s in over his head and just trying to act like a tough guy but desn’t have the balls to back it up. Sooner or later someone’s going to call his bluffs and expose him for the coward he is and its going to get ugly, very ugly. Unfortunately he may put us smack in the middle of WW3 by running his big mouth in the process. Impeach the man and kill Oamacare, revive the eonomy, and avert the destruction of the Constitution, gun confiscations, and WW3. Sounds like a winner to me...
Isn’t it time for another vacation?
Thirty months into the war there, it is clear that the good guys, such as they are, are not in a position to win.
Its Syria. There are no good guys at all......
There sure aren’t
All of this is FAR TOO MUCH to ponder for the low information voter and those concerned only with the next episode of “Dancing with the Stars.”
Eggactly!
Bluster, bluff and backstabbing: Obama’s bread and circuses
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3060640/posts
Obama’s Bread And Circuses
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3061270/posts
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