“The Way I See It” is an attempt by the guest columnist to enlighten readers on a subject, as he views it,
and does not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.
Obama and Syria
Obama has been supporting the ‘rebels’ in Syria for over a year. While he denied giving ‘military aid’, Benghazi was the shipping point for anti-aircraft and anti-tank guided missiles shipped through Turkey to the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA). These missiles were from Ghadaffi’s army, captured by Libyan rebels, and then collected by US spec ops people to keep them from Al Qaeda. The secrecy of this mission was part of the reason for the low profile security of the consulate there, and the success of the Jihadist attack.
There were credible reports that FSA units had captured Sarin gas weapons from the Syrian Army base and chemical weapons factory near Aleppo over 14 months ago. The FSA was originally made up of Syrian militias including secular democrats and even Christian militias, but the actual leadership in the field has been taken over by Sunni/Wahabbi/Salafist, Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and al Qaeda (AQ) jihadists. The MB and AQ are heavily supported by Qatar and the Saudis because they want to overthrow Bashar al Assad because he has prevented them from building a natural gas pipeline through Syria to connect in Turkey to pipelines that supply Europe. There are also reports that AQ jihadists were supplied with Sarin and/or components to make it by Arab sources. The Jihadists want an Islamist Republic in Syria and to overrun Israel.
Last March, there was a little-reported Sarin attack against Assad’s forces that killed 26. This was thoroughly investigated by Russian chemical warfare specialists and they issued a 100 page well documented scientific report that showed the Sarin used was “not military grade”, but what they called “kitchen Sarin”. Also the military grade war-heads explode to aerosol the Sarin and that makes the residual Sarin on the victims very dangerous to first responders and anyone touching the victims. This does not seem to be the case in reports and videos of the August attacks. UN reports on 9/13 also implicate the rebels.
German intelligence monitored many requests from Assad’s military to use Sarin and all were denied. It would be tactically stupid for Assad to use Sarin against his civilian population, it would drive them into the rebels side and cause huge international condemnation. On the other hand, the MB and AQ jihadists have killed thousands of civilians suspected of being Assad sympathizers, or for being Alawites, Christians, Shia, or Kurds, anything but Sunni Muslims. This is a religious genocide as well as a political war. We need more investigation as to who the victims were, and how many. The French said 281, Doctors Without Borders said 355, Obama and Kerry say 1429, including over 426 children. If Assad used the gas, he would target areas where the rebels were attacking his forces, not civilians. Also now there are indications that these numbers included deaths from bombs and artillery. WHAT? Obama and Kerry LIE?
Obama and Kerry have been discredited for using an oped piece in the Wall Street Journal by a graduate student claiming to be a PhD, Elizabeth O’Bagy, as the basis for their decision to bomb Assad. O’Bagy was found to be a paid lobbyist and propagandist for Syrian Jihadists. She has been fired from her job at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) for lying on her resume, and should be expeled from Georgetown U. So why does Obama so desperately want to get us in this dangerous mess? To support his friends in the MB? To help the Saudis get their pipeline? To back up his Red Line threats, even when there is serious doubt that Assad is responsible for the attacks? Or is it simply to pull a Wag the Dog attack to get his scandals out of the headlines?
I think it is worse than that. He came back from vacation facing a fight to defund the train-wreck of an ever growing ObamaCare, now 10,516 pages of new govt regulations and growing. He has promised $millions to propagandize Americans into swallowing this increasingly bitter pill, to pay more for OFA, the new ACORN spin-offs, and other cronies to train “Navigators” to help people sign up for this massive bureaucratic nightmare. And he is broke. There was no Federal debt creation for August because they are up against the Debt Ceiling.
Congress was scalded by Obama’s promises of debt reductions last time with the “Sequester” that was supposed to stop the run-away increases in Welfare give-aways, but Obama turned that into an austerity program for the military and cuts to popular middle-class things like National Parks. So he must come up with a new idea to fool the “Stupid Party”. So, a limited attack on Syria, not big enough to deeply offend his pacifist contingency, excused by the horror of gas warfare, and very short-term so to not further inflame a war-weary nation. Just enough to use up a couple of billion dollars worth of high tech gadgets like $1.5 million cruise missiles, smart-bombs, aircraft carriers and long range bombers. Then he goes to Congress decrying the need for replacing all this military hardware, fuel, and restoring cuts to the military that he ordered. Lead by myopic war-hawks like McCain, Graham, Boehner, and other RINO cronies, the GOP caves and passes another pork-filled $1.5 Trillion Debt Ceiling Raise for Obama’s socialist Agenda and his 2014 vote-buying slush-fund. Forget defunding ObamaCare, investigating Benghazi, Fast & Furious, or dozens of other abuses of power by his administration in their Forward to Dystopia Agenda, Obama gets the Debt Ceiling raised and he will spend it all how he wants to.
Obama is not really smart, especially in a “Real World” sense, but he is deviously clever, a master of the Alinskyite “Double-Think”. He can fool gullible Americans, low information voters, RINOs & The Stupid Party, but not Arabs or Orientals. And not people that study Obama’s history and follow the money.
Some are saying Putin saved Obama by defusing this mess, but in reality he may have “saved” America, at least in the short-term – maybe. Putin is a Russian Patriot, he is protecting his ally Assad to prevent the pipeline that might greatly reduce the profits of GazProm and his country’s foreign trade balance. He also realizes that the MB and AQ represent a serious threat to the US, Russia, and his customers in Europe. It is better to fight them through Assad in Syria than in Russia as illegal immigrants. He is trying to protect his country, his citizens, and build their economy.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a President that thought like that?
