Posted on 09/09/2013 1:33:08 PM PDT by jazusamo
I cannot see why even a single American, a single Israeli or a single Syrian civilian should be killed as a result of a token U.S. military action, undertaken simply to spare Barack Obama the embarrassment of doing nothing, after his ill-advised public ultimatum to the Syrian government to not use chemical weapons was ignored.
Some people say that some military response is necessary, not to spare Obama a personal humiliation, but to spare the American presidency from losing all credibility — and therefore losing the ability to deter future threats to the United States without bloodshed.
There is no question that the credibility of the presidency — regardless of who holds that office — is a major asset of this country. Another way of saying the same thing is that Barack Obama has recklessly risked the credibility of future presidents, and the future safety of this country, by his glib words and weak actions.
Some people who disagree with Obama's issuance of a public ultimatum to the Assad regime in the first place, and who also disagree with his recent threat of military action against Syria, nevertheless say that we must back up that threat now, simply to forestall future dangers from a loss of American credibility in the eyes of other countries, including both our enemies and our allies.
But will a transparently token military action preserve American credibility? And dare we risk an unintended escalation, such as began both World Wars in the 20th century?
Since so little real history is taught in even our prestigious colleges and universities, it may be worth noting how World War II — the most catastrophic war in human history — began.
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
Al Qaeda in Syria isn’t our ally.
Don’t become their air force!
Whatever the Obama rhetoric, the reality is that his policies in Egypt and Libya have led to replacing stable regimes, at peace with Israel and the West, and tolerant of their own Christian minorities, with chaotic regimes in which fanatical anti-Western terrorists have played a large and growing role, with hostility to Israel and murderous attacks on Christians in their own country.
Heck, we have no idea who all the players are and who might be even “the marginally less-bad guys”.
William Flax
Thanks for the ping jaz. Another great post by Dr. Sowell.
I can’t help but notice, as I would hope all FReepers would the International reaction to Obama regarding this Syrian Issue. The lack of support tells us one thing, but the support, and by whom tells us another doesn’t it. It shows us who isn’t on the team that pushed Obama down our throats, as well shows us who is quite willing to use us, and who it is that Obama bows to.
The Current Occupant of the White Hut is embarrassed?
How can you tell? His whole life has been an embarrassment, to socialism, to Islam, to community organizing, to any international forum on which he may appear. Incompetence shows at every pore of his being, as he was deliberately miseducated, always gaining placement in schools because of affirmative action, and his recorded grades concealed because of scholastic inadequacies. His very parentage is in question, being really too “white” for the racial minority of African descent that makes up some 13%. He actually falls in that much smaller category of “racially mixed”. He has few if any roots in the indigenous population of descendants of former slaves, a fact reflected upon by Jesse Jackson and others, and lacks the street cred to be “down for the struggle”.
His ties to the history of the United States and its foundation were never very well established, as his early mentors, including his one “parent” (Stanley Ann Dunham was more likely his half-sister, rather than his birth mother) and Frank Davis Marshall, both committed socialists. His youth spent in Indonesia did nothing to instill any love of the ideal that is America in his mind, and he was a lackadaisical scholar by any estimate. Sure, he “came to love” the sound of the call to evening prayer at the mosque in Indonesia, where he was given the religious training as a youth, but he is at best only a sunshine Muslim, if he professes to any religion at all. His credentials as a Christian are even more suspect, and any “conversion” to Christianity was superficial at best.
Accursed post turtle.
Obama is a war criminal. His egotistical incompetence have done more damage than most dictators. Hundreds of thousands of people killed, millions displaced from their homes, huge economic loses, all because we have a sociopath in the White House.
Well said...He’s basically the laughing stock of the International Community, adversaries and supposed allies alike and has no one to blame but himself.
An excellent post and every word true, his life has basically been a lie.
It will not. Reason enough to resist it.
Helmuth Von Moltke the elder, who ought to know.
Whatever the Obama rhetoric, the reality is that his policies in Egypt and Libya have led to replacing stable regimes, at peace with Israel and the West, and tolerant of their own Christian minorities, with chaotic regimes in which fanatical anti-Western terrorists have played a large and growing role, with hostility to Israel and murderous attacks on Christians in their own country.
How colossally incompetent would we have to believe 0bama to be to even suspect that it wasn't deliberate? Plenty of my fellow FReepers aren't buying it and I'm not sure I want to try selling it. Either way, this administration makes Carter's look competent, and that's saying something.
Yep, I believe it’s deliberate either on his part or his handlers. I believe that because at times Obummer seems so inept and incompetent it doesn’t seem he has the brains to carry out a plan like this.
You’re dead on the mark about this administration versus Carter’s and I never thought that Carter’s would be replaced as the worst ever.
The problem is “do the American people learn anything” from how he got elected twice?
If not, then America and the presidency does not deserve ‘surviving’. Harsh, I know, please don't blame me.
Dr. Sowell hits another home run. Why can’t He be a presidents adviser? If I were president, he’d be the first person I would call.
You bet, I’ve wondered that very same thing. In all honesty he probably would not be interested if he had to live in Washington DC.
Thank you for the ping, Jaz.
Here’s hoping that we can bootstrap ourselves out of this horrible mess when the current term of office is over, assuming the occupant does not run for a third term.
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