Chana G.
I have rec'd emails from abroad asking how people in Israel feel about
Obama's actions - of lack thereof. How to answer that is not difficult; gas
masks are being distributed again - even for babies.
Iran, pushing ahead with its effort to create nuclear bombs, has been
watching to see Washington's response to anything. They have learned that
Obama's oratory is not to be taken seriously; he rec'd the 'Peace Prize' for his
talk but is leading us into war. Instead of organizing a serious response
to Iran he chose useless sanctions - as though no previous administration had
undertaken this. He has antagonized Muslim/Arab countries in the Middle
East who are quite vociferous in their denunciation of him. In Egypt each
side claims that he is supporting the other. Just a short time ago, Egypt
was considered a friend of the U.S.
Iran has cleverly been supplying proxy groups with weapons and, therefore,
considered 'not culpable' when those terrorists use them. Recently, 22
American embassies were closed because of a terror threat - a real show of
strength!! Wonder what the reaction will be when Iran does get the
bomb. Spelling it out: the whole Western world will be terrorized -
paralyzed - and it will be too late to do anything.
The only thing about which Obama is decisive is undermining the State of
Israel by pressuring for the release of terrorists 'as a confidence building
gesture to those who want to destroy the country. It makes no difference
that Israel is the only stable and democratic country in the region and that a
Palestinian state would be an apartheid terrorist entity in the heart of
Israel.
To those who have written asking about how people in Israel feel about what
is going on -- you should watch your own backyard. Whatever happens to us
is going to happen to the rest of civilization. It is time for good
judgment - and prayer. Let us begin.
Chana
COMMENT: President Obama’s indecisive reaction to Syria debacle emboldens our enemies abroad
- Last Updated: 1:09 PM, August 29, 2013
- Posted: 12:46 AM, August 29, 2013
Michael Goodwin
His feckless, indulgent dithering while Syria burns would be the low point of his foreign policy except for the fact that it is alarmingly typical. The president from the faculty lounge is proving again that he is simply no match for determined adversaries, terrorists and genocidal maniacs.
From the upheavals of the so-called Arab Spring to the “reset” with Russia to the “engagement” with Iran, Obama’s sophomoric habit of leading from behind has reduced the planet’s lone superpower to a paper tiger and emboldened those who would do us harm.
Reuters
ENOUGH: UN inspectors take samples yesterday
from a Damascus site believed hit by chemical weapons.
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES - ASSAD'S EVIL YOUNGER BROTHER ORDERED POISON GAS ATTACK
UK: SYRIA ATTACK WOULD BE LEGAL, JUSTIFIED
Nearly five years into his presidency, it is still Amateur Hour in the White House.
The debacle in Syria illustrates what’s wrong with his worldview. While the president was busy apologizing for America, Syria exploded into a civil war that is spreading into other countries and could destabilize the entire region. Believing his rhetoric and pique would pass for a policy, Obama backed himself into a corner with no good options.
We can’t know what would have happened if America had played from its strengths. We only know disaster has followed his reckless decision to abdicate our leadership position.
Recall that after Bashar al-Assad opened fire on peaceful demonstrators in March 2011, then- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called him a “reformer” and expressed confidence that he was no Moammar Khadafy. As the bodies piled up, Obama himself switched course, saying Assad must go.
He kept saying that as whole cities were leveled amid reports of torture, atrocities and slaughter. His warnings ignored, a year ago, Obama upped the ante, saying Assad’s use of chemical weapons would be a “red line” for action.
Assad crossed the red line twice — and still, the president hesitates. It’s not that he is going wobbly. Obama is wobbly.
Even now, as Washington and the world expect a military strike, its purpose is shrouded in a fog of half-measures, media leaks and political posturing.
White House officials promise to “punish” Assad while also insisting the aim is not “regime change.” The leakers helpfully include a list of possible military targets, vow the attacks will last “no more than two days” and be finished “before the president leaves for Russia next week.
You don’t have to read tea leaves to realize that the commander-in-chief is
holding his nose while deigning to squeeze a military operation into his busy
schedule. Makes you proud, no?
No. It makes me ashamed and furious.
Why bother with a military attack at all? If the aim is simply that hoary trope of “sending a message,” Obama should just call Assad and tell him he’s a very bad boy. That would save blood and treasure.
In fact, it makes zero sense to use the military for any purpose other than achieving policy goals. If the policy is regime change in Syria, as Obama has said for two years, then a military attack should support that policy.
That means going after Assad personally, because nothing says regime change
like droning the Butcher-in-Chief. In his bed, if possible.
If that’s not the purpose or policy, then there is no obvious reason to use the military. Bouncing rubble with a few missiles will not help the rebels. Even worse, it sends the message that America is not serious.
That, in fact, is the very message Obama sent with his red line. As Sen. John McCain argued, the red line gave the green light for everything short of chemical weapons. So Assad killed 80,000 or so people without using chemical weapons, confident the United States would care only if he killed them with chlorine gas or sarin. Bombs, mortars, tanks and torture were inexplicably OK with Obama.
A military attack without a clear military purpose would be another green light for mass murder, and not just in Syria.
Iran would freshly conclude it has nothing to fear as it marches toward nuclear weapons. And because weakness begets aggression, Hezbollah, Hamas and al Qaeda groups everywhere would take advantage of Obama’s lack of resolve.
His back-and-forth on Egypt is another misreading of history and human nature that cost us an ally. Our hard-won gains in Iraq are being erased in spasms of violence, and the Taliban in Afghanistan now know they only need wait for our scheduled departure.
Wherever you look, our retreat is leaving a vacuum that is being filled in the worst possible ways.
In a recent speech, Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution reviewed the history of how America took the international lead in the first place. It came after World War II, when statesmen and leaders of both parties decided that the US was uniquely equipped to forge a global order that would stop world wars before they started.
That global order, with occasional mistakes and failures, has lasted more than 60 years, a period of unprecedented human prosperity and a wondrous spread of democracy.
The world we helped build benefitted every American, but not just Americans.
Yet, Kagan warns, if we forget why we assumed that role and walk away from the world, there will be a new global order. It will be created and policed by someone else — China or Russia, perhaps. Or maybe there will be a period of complete global disorder, a frightening prospect that, in my view, grows more likely each day.
Presumably, Obama would deny that he favors any of those alternatives. But you would never know that from his actions.
mgoodwin@nypost.com,
No. It makes me ashamed and furious.
Why bother with a military attack at all? If the aim is simply that hoary trope of “sending a message,” Obama should just call Assad and tell him he’s a very bad boy. That would save blood and treasure.
In fact, it makes zero sense to use the military for any purpose other than achieving policy goals. If the policy is regime change in Syria, as Obama has said for two years, then a military attack should support that policy.
Reuters
ENOUGH: UN inspectors take samples yesterday
from a Damascus site believed hit by chemical weapons.
If that’s not the purpose or policy, then there is no obvious reason to use the military. Bouncing rubble with a few missiles will not help the rebels. Even worse, it sends the message that America is not serious.
That, in fact, is the very message Obama sent with his red line. As Sen. John McCain argued, the red line gave the green light for everything short of chemical weapons. So Assad killed 80,000 or so people without using chemical weapons, confident the United States would care only if he killed them with chlorine gas or sarin. Bombs, mortars, tanks and torture were inexplicably OK with Obama.
A military attack without a clear military purpose would be another green light for mass murder, and not just in Syria.
Iran would freshly conclude it has nothing to fear as it marches toward nuclear weapons. And because weakness begets aggression, Hezbollah, Hamas and al Qaeda groups everywhere would take advantage of Obama’s lack of resolve.
His back-and-forth on Egypt is another misreading of history and human nature that cost us an ally. Our hard-won gains in Iraq are being erased in spasms of violence, and the Taliban in Afghanistan now know they only need wait for our scheduled departure.
Wherever you look, our retreat is leaving a vacuum that is being filled in the worst possible ways.
In a recent speech, Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution reviewed the history of how America took the international lead in the first place. It came after World War II, when statesmen and leaders of both parties decided that the US was uniquely equipped to forge a global order that would stop world wars before they started.
That global order, with occasional mistakes and failures, has lasted more than 60 years, a period of unprecedented human prosperity and a wondrous spread of democracy.
The world we helped build benefitted every American, but not just Americans.
Yet, Kagan warns, if we forget why we assumed that role and walk away from the world, there will be a new global order. It will be created and policed by someone else — China or Russia, perhaps. Or maybe there will be a period of complete global disorder, a frightening prospect that, in my view, grows more likely each day.
Presumably, Obama would deny that he favors any of those alternatives. But you would never know that from his actions.
mgoodwin@nypost.com,
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