A Fool’s Errand In Syria

by Allan Erickson 

Once again, this President behaves as if the American people are complete idiots.  In his mind, we are such fools that we’ll believe anything.  After all, we elected the clown twice. Perhaps he is right.
In any case, now he would have us believe:

• he never drew a red line in Syria and that the rest of the world drew the red line;
• shooting missiles at Syria is not an act of war;
• regardless of what Congress says, he has the power to strike and will do so;
• his credibility is not on the line, but the credibility of Congress is on the line;
• invasion is not an option but may be necessary,
• entering a conflict like this in support of Jihad, without a plan and without any idea of the consequences, is the right thing to do. 

Well OK then!  As far as Obama is concerned, everybody just sit down, shut up, and submit.
As far as I’m concerned, Mr. Obama, it’s a fool’s errand; and you are just the fool to run it.

Just as a practical matter: does anyone really believe that Assad will all of a sudden stop the atrocities, or that jihadists will stop committing atrocities, just because Barry authorizes a few missile strikes blessed by the French?

If we had been sober about Syria three years ago, we would have done the following:

• Secured agreements with Putin about how to avoid civil war, stabilize the situation, and save lives for the sake of stability in the region.
• Prepared a serious plan in the U.N. to confront Assad with criminal charges once he started slaughtering civilians by any means, forming coalitions with everyone (including the Arab League) to preempt the slaughter of innocents instead of waiting until 100,000 died.
• Staged massive aid for refugees in cooperation with Jordan and Turkey.
• With allies, used all covert means to halt the spread of Jihad in Syria and elsewhere, presumably a shared goal with the Russians (at least in many sectors.) 

Instead, Obama has dithered, set the Arab world on fire, failed in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and made Libya an Al Qaeda training camp. Jihad is advancing; and the U.S. is seen as a giant, ineffective clown by the rest of the world.

Yes, but we’re the idiots, Mr. President.
(“Valerie! Have they stopped talking about Benghazi, the IRS, Fast & Furious, Egypt, and the NSA?”)