Syria probably deserves a beatdown - even Mr. Unproven Nobel Peace Prize boxed himself into this idea of raining punishment down on Assad if he used chemical weapons - but call me an isolationist, I am tired of having our country engaged in military action, even when it is multilateral, and then having locals resent our presence. I am also loth to intervene in someone's private war (it is, after all, a civil war, not an invasion). Syria is certainly not deserving of any American lives.
What drives me really nuts is the idea that an aspiring dictator (and some would say, with some merit, that he has achieved this status already), whose latest populist push is as an alternative to the west is absolutely running circles around us. Mr. Obama rightly claims a victory here in the recent unconventional arms agreement with Syria, at the completely unadmitted expense of looking rather impotent in the face of Russia, backers of Assad's oppressive regime, who suggested the deal in the first place. Maybe it might not have happened had we not been threatening to carry the proverbial big stick, as weak as that was - no public support and even Kerry bragging that it would be "incredibly small" - but even I believe that the avenue of using force was pursued only superficially because of our president's initial remarks about Syria's so-called "Red Line". I can't believe that both Russia and Syria didn't take this opportunity to laugh at us.
Last edited by jcp123; 09-24-2013 at 01:00 AM.
An it harm none, do as ye will
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