Today is all Syria and nothing but Syria.
Obama managed to surprise his own advisors on Syria. What’s the rush? Why did John Kerry have to stick his neck out and fluff up the “evidence” with decade old pictures? The phone is ringing, Secretary. It’s Colin Powell asking if you’ve lost your mind.
And Ok. So we have “evidence” — if it can be trusted — saying that chemical weapons were used, and saying where they were used. Nobody has offered anybody to the actual attack or orders to make the actual attack. The “proof” boils down to “The body was found in a locked room that the defendant had a key to open.” Unless there’s a whole lot more “classified” info, it’s barely enough to get a search warrant on a crime drama. Do you think that the Bad Guys in that part of the world are above framing another party with circumstantial evidence?
Here’s a little history lesson for you on the War on Terror and Syria in particular. In case you’re having a hard time keeping track of the players, here’s a chart of who stands where. The Guardian is willing to go so far as to say “it’s about the oil, stupid.”
In an environment where we are arguing about the upcoming debt ceiling problem and some Republicans are threatening to let the nation default on it’s bonds unless Social Security is gutted, it’s worth noting that the Pentagon can’t afford to go to war in Syria and will need a supplemental spending bill to make it happen. But Republicans never met a war they didn’t like (unless a Democrat thinks it’s a good idea); so much for “this nation must learn to live within it’s means.
There’s also a lot of people who point out that we cannot be the Policeman for the World.
The media is on board — a nice war makes it obvious what to cover. For a change, support and opposition is not following party lines in Congress. It’s a good thing they aren’t back until the 9th. It will take that long to force encourage enough Congressmen and Senators to support the new war. Getting the military to support “becoming Al Qaeda’s air force” is another battle altogether.
The Pope is calling for peace in Syria. As the first Pope I’ve respected during my lifetime, I think he’s on to something there.
And you know who else thinks going to war in Syria is a bad idea? Sarah Palin, whose Facebook page says “So we’re bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And I’m the idiot?” When Sarah Palin is the voice of reason, you’ve got a big problem.