Cue Santayana
Is there a law somewhere that mandates that every 10 years the US needs to do something incredibly stupid that involves killing people for no good reason?
Via Digby you head over to Slate to see a graphic of the relationship of Syria to other power centers in the Middle East and the US.
That chart is based on a letter to editor in the Financial Times.
The Egyptian blogger, The Big Pharaoh, has a more complex version.
The simple version that even this administration should understand is that the choices are Assad and Iran, or al Qaeda. The actual Syrian opposition that started the protests against the Assad regime has been overtaken by foreign militant fundamentalists.
The only thing that cruise missiles are going to do is kill more Syrians, none of whom want to die, and many of whom just want to stay out of the current war in their country.
No one has put forth a single good reason why the US should get involved in Syria. If European nations want to get involved, let them explain that decision to their people.
Bombing a country is an act of war. If this administration wants to go to war with Syria, get a declaration of war from Congress.
2 comments
Well, the good news is that if Obama is as effective at waging war against Syria as he has been at prosecuting bankers who committed fraud against America, there will be some fine speeches full of flowery oratory and big words, and then… well. Obama seems to pretty much think the speech is all that’s necessary to solve any problem. At least, if you look at his (lack of) action on any pressing issue facing America, that seems to be his Final Solution: A speech. A fine darn tootin’ speech, but still, in the end, a speech.
Let’s hope that Obama lives up (down?) to his record on Syria like he has on every other issue facing his administration… we hardly need another al Qaeda refuge in the Middle East, isn’t Yemen enough?
I really think he is going to do something stupid, and we are going to be dealing with the backlash for decades. He has to many traits in common with the Shrubbery to permit reality to prevent him from doing something this stupid.
The Russians seem to be claiming they have satellite photos showing rocket launches from rebel held territory, but that doesn’t mean anything. We should wait on the UN inspectors to actually examine the ‘crime scene’, before doing anything.
The Security Council won’t act because Russia and China will veto anything proposed.
Congress should start acting like the third branch when it comes to war, and stop the stupidity of AUMF legislation.