Posted on 09/10/2013 3:51:57 AM PDT by Kaslin
While President Barack Obama and Congress pontificate over whether Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons on his own people and whether a limited U.S. attack on Syria would be justified, what Washington needs to realize is this: Assad launched sarin on its citizens in hopes of moving the U.S. like a chess piece into his civil war and deeper onto the Middle East war map.
According to New York University political scientist Alastair Smith, Assad's use of chemical weapons is in reality "a brilliant play internationally" on the global field of politics and power -- if, of course, you're viewing it from the psychotic dictator's position.
Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita co-authored "The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics," which is an examination of why autocrats do what they do.
Joshua Keating, staff writer for Slate, recently talked to Smith and reported that "he thinks (Assad's) use of chemical weapons was a risky but shrewd move that had less to do with punishing the rebels than with sending a signal to his core supporters -- predominantly members of the Alawite religious sect -- and his most important international allies."
In his own words, Smith elaborated: "First of all, using chemical weapons has absolutely cemented that for Assad there can be no soft landing. That has two effects: Domestically, it has signaled to his coalition that they should stick with him. He's there for the long run and there's no easy way out for him, so they know he won't desert them. These crimes against humanity have also made ... very clear that it's going to be very bad for the Alawites if there's any political transition, which makes them even more loyal to him. They have nowhere else to go."
Smith added: "It's also been a brilliant play internationally. The extent of the chemical weapons has not been so much that Obama's willing to put ground forces in. The airstrikes they are discussing are unlikely to be a decisive military factor. And Russia and Iran would love to snub the nose of the U.S., and this is a perfect way to do it. The U.S. is going to have to go it alone if they do it, and this is a great way for Russia and Iran to make the U.S. look impotent and pathetic. Russia's going to continue supplying (Assad) with weapons, and Iran's going to keep supplying him with money. So this was actually a brilliant play from him."
The problem in this Syrian saga is that the White House isn't examining the situation according to power paradigms of dictators -- particularly Assad. It is responding to it according to the typical model of Western imperialism, and Assad knows it. That's why he continues to play to his theater and taunt Goliath by poking his chest with words such as "Obama is weak."
Herein lies the rub. On Saturday, BBC ran a story titled "Syria crisis raises question of US role in the world." According to the article, "in the details of the debate over Syria, the biggest questions and the larger picture are in danger of being lost. In essence, it's whether the world needs a super cop. And whether the US should simply assume that role."
If I were one of our lawmakers, I would emphatically tell the president: Quit taking the bait! If all the evidence about chemical weapons points straight to Assad's front door, that doesn't mean we check in our brains at the door of war and bow down to a Middle Eastern dictator's mindset.
Proof of the president's shortsightedness can be found in his naive strategy of a "limited" military campaign in Syria. What a joke and mockery to any opponent and to any rational mind! What professional fighter says, "I'm going to go into the ring and throw a series of blows and then get out"? Does the opponent have no bearing on countermeasures? You can't limit an attack when you're kicking hornets' nests or throwing matches on gasoline!
And it's not merely Assad waiting in the ring to counter the U.S. hits but also Iran, Russia, Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaida, et al. And with our ally Israel -- which already is hated by most -- in the region, there's no telling the outcome. It is no exaggeration to say that a single, unilateral U.S. strike on Syria could spark fires that lead to the inferno of World War III.
Obama needs to ratchet down his and his Cabinet's need for speed in this Syrian matter, review the entire matter from Assad's autocratic mindset, seek counsel from the greatest experts on the Middle East and then refuse to engage in action in Syria without congressional and international support. Only then should the coalition decide on the best course of action against Syria -- whether that's a multinational attack on various hot spots or further arming and enabling pro-democracy resistance groups in the country or utilizing some covert actions against the regime that the world never connects to the U.S. or the international community.
The president already has confessed that the Syrian mission is "not time-sensitive" and that Assad's actions pose "no imminent, direct threat" to the U.S. The only threat there is for the U.S. at this point is to the president's pride, ego and willingness to humble himself for the sake of our military, our country's future, our standing in the world and especially our not getting entangled further in Middle Eastern affairs.
As a six-time world karate champion, I know something about fighting, winning and losing. Sometimes one has to lose a battle to win a war, if only in appearance before certain others. And the truth is, Mr. President, sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn. My advice is to learn it now before it's too late for all of us.
Assad placed Obama (and, hence, America) in checkmate when he launched chemical weapons upon his people. The temptation is to blow up his chess pieces. But the right and wise move is to step away from the table, quit playing his game and form our own.
The Syrian crisis is all the more reason to call up America's spiritual reserves by observing the Day of Prayer and Repentance on Sept. 11. You can register your intent to participate and help spread the word by going to http://911dayofprayer.com. And on Sept. 12, join thousands of businesses across the U.S. in showing appreciation for U.S. military forces by providing free goods and services. To see a complete list of offers from business participants in your state, go to http://www.freedomdayusa.org/participating-businesses.html.
Hey Townhall, you can take your popups and shove
em.
I agree...they’ve gotten very, very annoying ....
At bottom, Assad is staying the course because he will not hand the land of his ancestors over Sunni Muslim troglodytes. Now, why would he, being a Muslim himself, be averse to being ruled by other Muslims? Because Alawites aren't Muslims. Hafez Assad paid got some big name mullah to call Alawites Shiites*, back in the 1970's, but their core beliefs, (1) there is no God but Ali, (2) a pantheon of saints that includes Aristotle, Plato and the Virgin Mary, (3) the non-prohibition of alcohol consumption and (4) a belief in reincarnation, suggest that both Shiites and Sunnis on the street are right to consider them to be non-Muslims at best and apostates or pagans at worst. If Alawites are Muslims, then Bahais, Sikhs and Muslims are really Christians, because they all incorporate elements of Christianity, and all of the preceding are really Jews, because they all incorporate elements of Judaism.
* Mainly to pacify Sunnis who were averse to being ruled by non-Muslims.
What if the entire Syria debacle is just a ruse being used by slick lawyers that surround the regime in order to keep all eyes away from Obama’s true jeopardy which is impeachment due to Benghzi, egypt among other scandals.?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3064859/posts?page=2
“Please , Brer ‘Bama, don’t throw me in dat dere briar patch!”
Oh really? Now it's a fact? I still think the rebels did it. Haven't seen definitive proof otherwise.
http://shoebat.com/2013/08/27/evidence-syrian-rebels-used-chemical-weapons-not-assad/
It does not make a lot of sense that Assad after possessing chem weapons for many years all of a sudden decides to use them just when the entire world is watching.Not too prudent or even rational.
I heard Assad on talk radio yesterday challening anyone with proof positive that his side released the gas to please show the proof,no taker so far.
I agree, the chess game is being played by al queerda not Assad
Brilliant post here and yet another reason (as if we needed any) as to why the US should drill its own oil and stay the hell out of the mid-east.
Chuck:
Yhooz wong.
There wouldn’t be a civil but, for government fomenting the unrest.
Assad didn’t gas anyone.
I mean really, what is there to be gained by gassing a bunch women and children?
Theyyyyy, were combatants? I don’t see how that attrites his enemies.
I do see how suddenly there is synthetic pleas from our government representatives for us to give them permission to stop this so called atrocity.
We’re not buying it.
Not because Barack is in charge. Hell, we disagree with Lindsey Graham, John McCcain, Rubio, Cantor, et al.
We simply don’t see the point.
We destroyed knowns in Egypt, Lybia and a few other places. If Assad falls the next guy out on a plane will be the King of Jordan. A good man who we are putting pressure on and undermining the stability of his nation.
Stay out of Syria and stop aiding the rebels.
nice piece
explains why the Saudis have religious incentive (other than economic) to set loose the hounds of al Qaeda in trying to bring Syria down- though for some reason they have given Egypt a stay of execution
has anyone noticed that Saudi Arabia - not Iran - may actually be the biggest threat to world peace because our president and apparently half our congress, plus Wall Street, bows to them?
Good catch. The Saudis are slicker than anyone knows. They get away with buying both sides 24/7. And if you look on the list of who flew the planes into our buildings during 911 the Saudis are high on the list.
Chuck Norris has made the mistake of asserting that Assad used the chem weapons - but we have no evidence of that.
The problem is the Saudi people, who are troglodytes. The Saudi royals have to make a few gestures in the direction of helping the Syrian rebels, who are their co-religionists. If the Saudi royals were spending real money, the rebels would not be running short of supplies. It's not even clear to me that the Saudi royals actually want to remove Assad. But they have to be seen to want to remove Assad.
Neocons think that inside every foreigner is an American struggling to get out. That can actually happen, if we kill most of the fighting age men and indoctrinate the locals into thinking that their forebears were the personification of evil, as we did in Japan and Germany during the postwar period. But short of that, they are who they are - the product of the local historical narrative that, in most non-Western historical traditions, sees the world as composed of near and far enemies to be subjugated for the in-group's (tribe, nation, ethnicity, religion, et al) benefit.
Like the Shah, the Saudi royals are riding the tiger (i.e. a troglodyte populace that doesn't feel like changing, whose views have been reinforced by Allah's bounty of unlimited oil reserves). They are contributing nugatory amounts money to the rebels in order to keep the domestic fanatics pacified, and to give Assad the opportunity to kill off some of the more motivated fanatics who have actually gone to Syria to fight. But I don't think they are providing anywhere near the $30b they handed over to us for Desert Storm. Because if that were the case, Assad would be sitting in exile somewhere in Moscow.
Iran is a problem mainly because of its nuke program. Take away the nukes and Iran's just another poorly-armed Communist state with mullahs in place of commissars, due to its centrally-planned economy. But with the nukes, Iran can really throw its weight around. Like it or not, if Iran nukes our troops, responding in kind with respect to Iran's population centers is gonna be a really difficult political decision to make. I don't think that, politically-speaking, we can respond with nukes, even though that's what we say to deter adversaries. Besides, why have to make that decision? Take out Iran's nukes and we won't ever have to face that dilemma. Obama's using Syria to distract us from the necessity of taking out Iran's nuclear program. That McCain and some other factions of the GOP are backing this tomfoolery over Syria is disgraceful.
“Neocons think that inside every foreigner is an American struggling to get out.”
Perfect statement.
Even in the USA, there are plenty of our own citizens that hate the USA and would love to see the country degraded or even destroyed.
Oh yeah? Are YOU going to tell Chuck Norris he's wrong?
Nope, but he is misinformed!
Hey - I’ve heard that guns carry Chuck Norris for protection... ;-P
Ghosts sit around the campfire and tell Chuck Norris stories.
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