Category Archives: Military
Pinprick Peace Process
Syrian President Assad denied having chemical weapons until he agreed to John Kerry’s accidental offer to give them up. Now he denies doing so because of U..S. pressure.
President Obama called for a “shot across Syria’s bow”. Secretary of State Kerry called for an “unbelievably small strike”. Then Obama proclaimed that the United States military does not do pinpricks.
Putin Pinprick Prince of Peace Process
Not surprisingly, Putin has taken the leadership role in the Syrian crisis. He even has an opinion column in today’s New York Times to prove it.
Obama off the Hook
After redlining himself into a hopeless corner of the Mideast live box, Putin let Obama off the hook. Actually, it was more gaffe than hook.
Kerry’s lame comment about Syria turning over its chemical stockpiles is the basis for the whole thing. At first he walked back his proposal. Then Putin snatched it up, Assad agreed, and Kerry walked back the walk back.
Soon enough Obama took credit for the idea and the party elite swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. Next thing we know President Obama was flip flopping like a fish out of water while giving a speech, trying to convince us to hold off on a war nobody – least of all him – wants.
Noonan Nails Obama
Peggy Noonan imagines Putin wants to negotiate with a president of foreign policy stature (like Nixon) but he’s stuck with “a self-besotted charismatic who can’t tell the difference between showbiz and strategy”.
Update: Michael Tackett at Bloomberg covers the whole situation here.
An Unbelievably Small Really Futile and Stupid Gesture
The Obama/Kerry insistence on the insignificance of their proposed attack on Syria reached its logical absurd conclusion yesterday when Kerry described it as “unbelievably small”. What do you do with news that’s already a cartoon? You go to Animal House for “a really futile and stupid gesture”.
The side-splitting must have been too much for Putin. He pounced on Kerry’s “rhetorical point” that Assad could avoid attack by giving up his chemical weapons:
“He could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week — turn it over, all of it without delay and allow the full and total accounting. But he isn’t about to do it, and it can’t be done.”
By six o’clock Obama was all over the news shows swapping his red line for a life line from Putin.
Unbelievably Small Update
Bret Stephens wants to know “when did the American way of war go from shock-and-awe to forewarn-and-irritate?”.
What Red Line?
During a press conference on August 20 President Obama said, “a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.”
Yesterday in Stockholm, he said, “I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line.”
He didn’t build that red line. Somebody else made that happen.
Obama continued, “Keep in mind, I’m somebody who opposed the war in Iraq, and I’m not interested in repeating mistakes about basing decisions on faulty intelligence”.
Secretary of State John Kerry says he has proof that Assad gassed his own people, but then Colin Powell had proof of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. For good measure Kerry also insists that Syrian rebels are moderate .
Shirtless Putin says, “Kerry lies“.
Assad is accused of murdering a few hundred of his own. Ann Coulter notes that Saddam Hussein killed 50,000 plus with chemical weapons, leading up to the war Obama opposed. Bush’s invasion of Iraq so frightened Gadhafi that he gave up his weapons of mass destruction and turned in A Q Kahn, the ringleader of a world wide nuclear weapons black market.
Maureen Dowd, on the other hand, blames Bush.
Our Future Red Line Allies
Meanwhile it seems the Syrian rebels are busying themselves by executing men on their knees, and attacking a Christian village while they await our intervention in the war on Assad.
Blame Shifting in Syria
What’s with the president’s sudden interest in Congressional approval for “a shot across the bow” in Syria? Until now he’s thumbed his nose at Congress from the Dream Act to Libya. His “lead from behind” intervention in Libya created the chaos that led to the disaster in Benghazi.
Andrew McCarthy says there are no moderates in Syria and that the anti-Assad forces are dominated by al Qaeda friendly mujahadeen. All those in favor of killing Assad say Allahu Akbar!
Blame Shifting
Peter Wehner, in Commentary, says Obama “is furious about the box he’s placed himself in”.
“What he does see is a political (and geopolitical) disaster in the making. And so what is emerging is what comes most naturally to Mr. Obama: Blame shifting and blame sharing. Remember: the president doesn’t believe he needs congressional authorization to act. He’s ignored it before. He wants it now. For reasons of political survival. To put it another way: He wants the fingerprints of others on the failure in Syria.”
Update:
What red line? I didn’t set any red line. While answering a question in Sweden today, President Obama insisted that his credibility isn’t on the line, America’s is. He then proceeded to blame shift outward to “The International Community”. Surely the Solar System bears some responsibility here. Looks like Bush is finally off the hook.
