The tragedy of the Iraq War, an ill conceived and unnecessary war, which weakened the United States and emboldened Iran, is now haunting the Obama Administration, as it considers military intervention in Syria, as a result of the use of chemical weapons, believed to have been promoted by the government of Bashar Al Assad.
Chemical warfare is an illegal crime under international law, and a crime against humanity, and IF it is proved that Assad authorized this, rather than a renegade group, it is essential that the international community punish him for his war crime!
If nothing is done, then it will be seen as an endorsement of a war crime, a crime only done by a very small handful of government leaders in world history, including, of course, Adolf Hitler!
It will show that the world is again sitting by as they did when Hitler came to power in 1933 in what became known as Nazi Germany!
But the failures of the Iraq War, including the human cost and financial burden, is now burdening the Obama Administration as they plan strategy.
But to compare the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld led tragedy to what might be done under Obama, Biden, Kerry, Hagel is to distort reality, as the credibility of the first group is extremely different than that of the second group!
We are talking about three leaders who regularly lied to us, against four leaders with solid credentials and principles, who are reluctantly planning an intervention in a measured way!
The hypocrisy of Republicans who rushed to back the Bush Administration, while now opposing action by the Obama Administration, is nothing new, part of the continued attempt to undermine anything that Barack Obama and his colleagues want and believe in, whether domestic or foreign.
Obama wants a limited engagement, similar to Bill Clinton’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999, a 78 day bombing campaign against Serbia, with only a loss of one plane, and no human casualties.
While there is no way to know the reaction of Iran, Russia, China and others if there was an internationally led effort to punish Syria’s outlaw government, it is hard to conceive that intervention in Syria would lead to a wider war.
In any case, a chemical warfare Syria represents a threat to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and really, the civilized world, so to do nothing is simply unacceptable!
Let us pray for the good judgment of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel, as they face what could be the signature foreign policy challenge of the Obama Presidency, and hope that other nations, including Great Britain, whose Parliament just rejected any action, will come to support a necessary minimal intervention against an international outlaw government, which threatens the long range sanity of the world, if chemical warfare goes unpunished!
Unlike our Congress, it looks like the British Parliament does some work. They took time off from their vacations to debate this.
Professor,
This is an example of the long term unintended damage that W. Bush / Cheney’s made up lies for us to go into the Iraq War. Now just like the aftermath of Viet Nam, this country once again has to hesitate for fear of entering another bottomless pit, civil war which we cannot afford.
I also have to ask who gave Syria those detested weapons? Many may not know that it was Reagan through Rumfield that passed on the chemical / biological weapons that Saddam Hussein had which was acceptable to that administration provided he only used them on the Iranians in the Iraq – Iran War.
Yesterday the British Parliament voted not to be involved in the future discussed missile strikes against Assad. I have to think that they are war wearied from following the W. Bush rabbit hole debacle that ruined their economy too.
The U.S. will be dealing with the battle fatigue hangover for many years to come.
Jane Doe, our Congress should have been called back by John Boehner already!
Engineer, you are absolutely correct, how Reagan and Bush II messed up our foreign policy big time, and now we are paying the price for it big time!
Really interesting information on Syria.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/29/9-questions-about-syria-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/
Thanks for this, Maggie!
This article showed me that both action and inaction have their consequences. http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/08/the-problem-of-syria.html
This is a good piece too.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/30/bush-all-obama-boots-ground-long-campaign-syria.html
Some new video footage has surfaced of an attack on a school in Syria.
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2013/08/30/damon-syria-school-chemical-attack.cnn&hpt=hp_t1&from_homepage=yes
I agree with this paragraph from that PoliticusUSA article –
President Obama isn’t proposing war. He is calling for a response to one of the worst kinds of atrocities that a leader can commit against his/her own people. Those who can’t see the difference between opposing the use of chemical weapons and engaging in actual war aren’t advocates for peace. They are isolationists who are hiding behind the cause of peace.
Ed Schultz is one of my favorite pundits on MSNBC but….WOW…he went off his rocker tonight whining about Obama being a second Bush.
I agree completely with the paragraph in the Politics USA article quoted above, and am very shocked at Ed Schultz, as there is no way that Obama is a second Bush! Isolationism never has worked, and never will!
Chris Hayes and Ed are indeed very conflicted on this issue as most of us are, I think. The main difference is, correct me if I am wrong, President Obama does Not want to go to war. Bush with Cheney in his ea, very much wanted to go to war with anyon, so lied us into it.
President Obama is working very hard to collect every last bit of evidence and intelligence, consult with experts and study all pros and cons of intervention vs non-intervention.
I can’t imagine the weight on his shoulders.
Yes, Maggie, you are correct in what you say! Remember that Obama, Biden, Kerry, Hagel, have all been anti war, whether Vietnam in Kerry’s case, Iraq with all four of them, and they are not war mongers in any sense! And Kerry and Hagel personally know what war is, unlike draft dodger Cheney and National Guardsman with magazines and absences Bush!
This situation makes me thankful we didn’t get a President Romney 😉
Absolutely, Princess Leia, could not agree more! Who is President DOES have consequences! Imagine if Al Gore had taken the oath, instead of Bush in 2001, and John Kerry instead of Bush in 2005!