Instead, the
Obama administration has agreed to involve us in another Middle East conflict,
this time with Syria.
 |
| Street fighting rages in the cities and towns of Syria as rebel groups including anti-American factions such as Hezbollah strive to topple President Bashar al Assad. (TV Screen Shot/Credit Fox News) |
The Obama administration
recently announced that it will supply military assistance to Syrian rebels,
and that it will funnel that assistance through General Salim Idriss, a Syrian exile. As leader of the Supreme Military Council, Idriss
holds together a fragile coalition of anti-Assad rebel fighters, the Free
Syrian Army.
He will be relied upon not only by the U.S., but also by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two countries which have already provided aid to anti-Assad rebels. Idriss is expected to assure that military ordnance reaches only the FSA and does not find its way to Islamist forces inimical to U.S. interests.
Al Qaida-supported troops have also interposed themselves in the Syrian civil war in an effort to topple the Assad regime. They present a serious problem to the U.S. Administration, because they are not considered as authentic opposition. Should Assad be overthrown, this faction of extremists is expected to press for a role and a commitment to Islamist goals in any new Syrian government.
Iran continues to support Bashar al-Assad’s leadership and is believed to be supplying arms and munitions to prop up his forces. Making the situation worse, Lebanon-based Hezbollah has also entered the fray with its own fighting force in the hope of keeping Assad from being toppled.
Yet no conclusive evidence has been presented to Americans to that effect. Or, if such weapons were indeed employed, that their use did not originate from a rebel faction instead, in order to goad the U.S. into intervening.
From 100 to 150 victims are claimed to have been killed in a single incident of an inconclusive, unsubstantiated chemical attack. No other such occurrences, before or since have been claimed or documented.
The Obama administration’s assertion that chemical weapons were unleashed in Syria calls to mind the Bush administration’s contention that WMD’s were used by Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
That was subsequently determined to be untrue, yet it was the prime causal factor that led to our invasion of Iraq, the interminable street-to-street fighting that ensued, and the maiming and deaths of American soldiers caused by roadside bombings.
Eventually, liberal hawks within the White House, their sympathizers ensconced in Beltway think tanks, and prominent conservatives such as Senator John McCain have prevailed. President Barack Obama is allowing himself to be dragged into another untimely and unwise response to this latest Middle East crisis.
Yesterday, an expeditionary force including U.S. Marines concluded “Eager Lion,” a joint U.S./Jordanian military exercise involving 19 countries in Jordan’s desert near the northern border with Syria, presumably to rattle Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
The U.S. has also positioned F-16 fighter jets and Patriot anti-missile defenses in Jordan. No clarifications about their intended use have been forthcoming from President Obama or members of his administration.
What a tragic mistake.
Note: Revised and Updated, 6/24/2013, 6:36PM. In part, information for this update was sourced from a Washington Post column by Liz Sly.
He will be relied upon not only by the U.S., but also by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two countries which have already provided aid to anti-Assad rebels. Idriss is expected to assure that military ordnance reaches only the FSA and does not find its way to Islamist forces inimical to U.S. interests.
Al Qaida-supported troops have also interposed themselves in the Syrian civil war in an effort to topple the Assad regime. They present a serious problem to the U.S. Administration, because they are not considered as authentic opposition. Should Assad be overthrown, this faction of extremists is expected to press for a role and a commitment to Islamist goals in any new Syrian government.
Iran continues to support Bashar al-Assad’s leadership and is believed to be supplying arms and munitions to prop up his forces. Making the situation worse, Lebanon-based Hezbollah has also entered the fray with its own fighting force in the hope of keeping Assad from being toppled.
Russia is a wild card,
but so far it remains adamant in its insistence that any negotiated solution should
not require the removal of Assad.
The purported
justification for our getting engaged in this next intractable morass within
The Middle East is that the Syrian military is alleged to have used chemical
weapons against the opposition. Yet no conclusive evidence has been presented to Americans to that effect. Or, if such weapons were indeed employed, that their use did not originate from a rebel faction instead, in order to goad the U.S. into intervening.
From 100 to 150 victims are claimed to have been killed in a single incident of an inconclusive, unsubstantiated chemical attack. No other such occurrences, before or since have been claimed or documented.
The Obama administration’s assertion that chemical weapons were unleashed in Syria calls to mind the Bush administration’s contention that WMD’s were used by Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
That was subsequently determined to be untrue, yet it was the prime causal factor that led to our invasion of Iraq, the interminable street-to-street fighting that ensued, and the maiming and deaths of American soldiers caused by roadside bombings.
For years,
that rash decision cost America the lives of its irreplaceable U.S. fighting
men and women and left behind severe cases of post-traumatic stress syndrome for
thousands of that conflict’s survivors.
Now,
President Obama tells us that the use of chemical warfare in Syria is the red
line which, if crossed, would draw us into intervening. Convincing evidence has yet to be presented
to Americans that this “red line” has
been breached.Eventually, liberal hawks within the White House, their sympathizers ensconced in Beltway think tanks, and prominent conservatives such as Senator John McCain have prevailed. President Barack Obama is allowing himself to be dragged into another untimely and unwise response to this latest Middle East crisis.
Yesterday, an expeditionary force including U.S. Marines concluded “Eager Lion,” a joint U.S./Jordanian military exercise involving 19 countries in Jordan’s desert near the northern border with Syria, presumably to rattle Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
The U.S. has also positioned F-16 fighter jets and Patriot anti-missile defenses in Jordan. No clarifications about their intended use have been forthcoming from President Obama or members of his administration.
What a tragic mistake.
Note: Revised and Updated, 6/24/2013, 6:36PM. In part, information for this update was sourced from a Washington Post column by Liz Sly.
No comments:
Post a Comment