Syria: A lesson in failure; Second edition.

Isn’t it amazing, the Arab Spring has dissolved into the “Arab Summer of Discontent and expanding Jihadist Tyranny”; Egypt, Libya and now Syria. How about that for a news cast opener on MSNBC, CBS, ABC or as a headline for the New York Times etc.? Dream on.

Despite months of drawing so called “Red Lines” that Syria must not cross, Obama keeps running away from taking any action to back up his pronouncements. By doing so, Obama makes the United States look unreliable and foolish, which makes Islamists despise us, laugh at us and believe we are weak and ready for another attack.

April 30th 2013, Obama stated, “Syria may have crossed my Red Line”. But was vague on what he intended to do about that.

May 2nd 2013, Britain, France and Israel all agreed Syria used chemical weapons against its opposition. Now Obama has stated, “If Syria used chemical weapons, that would cross my Red Line and there will be enormous consequences”. Now there is no doubt Syria has used chemical weapons against its opposition, so what are the latest “enormous consequences”? Well, actually there weren’t any, enormous or otherwise.

Jay Carney (Obama’s press stooge) tells the press, “There is still much to be done to verify that the Red Line has been crossed”. I can’t believe how often Jay Carney thinks he can get away with misinformation, disinformation, half-truths and dammed lies to a so called White House Press Corps. But he gets away with it!

Chuck Hagel, Obama’s new Secretary of Defense, (an Obama appointee who believes our military is too bloated and needs to be reduced) makes this statement, “I think we should wait to get the facts before we make any judgments on what action should be taken”. That’s right Chuck, let’s not be judgmental about a guy who has already killed over ninety thousands of his people, so far.

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And as far as taking any action goes, since Obama hasn’t taken any yet, when and if he ever does, that action will be of no value to anyone.

Every time Assad crosses on of Obama’s so called, “Red Lines”, Obama falls back and makes another “Red Line”. Assad must really appreciate Obama; Assad needs all the humor he can find.

This President has become an international embarrassment. He is seen as such by many countries around the world; those countries that still have journalists and news organizations that, at least, attempt to tell the truth some of the time.

One of Obama’s statements on Syria was, “The use of chemical weapons, even just moving them around, would change my calculus, would change my equation”. Why do these people in D.C., when they are trying to create a weasel worded statement, have to use words like, change my calculus, change my equation? Good Lord, this isn’t a math problem. Come on Obama, get real, say something like, if you use chemical weapons, the action we will take is to create a no fly zone over your opposition’s safe areas, as one example. Of course that kind of statement could not easily be changed and weasel worded by good ole Jay or Chuck could it?

I am not advocating for any American troops fighting on the ground in Syria. But Obama’s phony, impotent statements about not crossing his “Red Lines” are making President Obama look a fool. Unfortunately his statements are also making America look weak and foolish to our enemy’s and that is dangerous.

At some point in time, Obama may be forced to stop making embarrassing speeches and comments about not crossing his “Red Lines”, to stop traveling around the country on campaign jaunts, to stop doing many things he likes to do instead of acting like a real President and doing his job, some of which is to pay attention to what is actually going on in Syria and the world and taking appropriate actions. However, I do not believe Obama ever intended to really do a damm thing about anything that takes place in Syria he just likes to bloviate to make himself look tough. Too bad, Obama you just make yourself look ridiculous.

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Here are some of the facts in Syria now. In July 2013, the rebels in Syria, the majority of who are Sunni, have the capability of assembling what might turn out to be overwhelming numbers. The Sunni population in Syria outnumbers Assad’s Alawite/Shia’s about 5 to 1. The Sunni rebels are strongly supported by the majority of the Arab world who are also Sunni. The principal Arab supporters of the rebels are Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and Jordan. Those countries have a combined GDP over twice that of Iran, Assad’s main financial supporter. There are 100 million Shite’s in the world, but there are 1.7 billion Sunni’s.

A recent survey by Zogby on Iran’s favorability ratings in the Middle East show they have fallen to an all-time low in the Sunni Arab world, from a high of 85% in 2006 to 15% in 2012. The Sunni Arab’s have become very disenchanted with the Shia Persians.

President Obama has provided no significant, strategic action of any advantage to America in Syria. I believe at this point it has become clear, even to him; the rebels have been taken over by Islamic Jihadist’s. Perhaps two years ago we might have been able with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other Arab influence, to establish a strong non-Jihadist’s rebel force there. Now, probably anything he does or tries to do will be too little and far too late. It increasingly looks like Obama’s past disengagement has given the radical Islamist’s the power to control the Assad opposition in Syria. At this time, we should stay the hell out of that mess. No arms transfers, no SpecOps, and for damm sure no American troops on the ground in Syria.

One of the results of the Obama administration’s two years of waffling over Syria is that Putin’s Russia now has far more impact on what will happen in Syria than Obama. Example: Russian is determined to position troops on the Syrian portion of the divided Golan Heights. Austria is pulling its U.N. detachment out of the Golan. Russia is putting troops in. When Russia puts troops there, it will be the first time in modern history Russian has admitted they have troops on the ground in the Middle East. The U.N. has advised they would not approve of Russia’s move. Putin told the U.N. to shove it. He is putting Russian troops there as a Russian national force, not a U.N. force. Putin’s reason for that move is to stop

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Hezbollah and other Jihadists from attacking Israel when and if they take over Syria, or that’s what he says anyway. Increasingly Putin looks strong, Obama continues to look weak. Muslims respect the Strong Horse. The world needs a strong America. Under Obama, the U.S. is starting to look like a weak pony.

Here is a wake-up call for Obama. The Kremlin cheerfully disclosed Putin and Netanyahu had another meeting on June 7th. That would be their third meeting in a month. Their frequent meetings speak volumes about who is calling the shots in Syria, for damm sure it isn’t Obama. It sounds like Putin has given Netanyahu some guidance on bombing Syrian military locations, Putin doesn’t like that. We will see if Israel conducts any more bombing attacks there. Interestingly, Prime Minister Netanyahu made this statement to his cabinet, “The disintegration of the U.N. Golan force underscores the lesson that Israel cannot entrust its security to U.N. International Forces” maybe Russian forces are ok? I have to believe if pressed, Israel would prefer the Russian assisted Assad forces to succeed rather than the crazy radical Jihadists Iran backs. Interesting, while Putin and Netanyahu have met three times in just one month, Obama has met with Netanyahu maybe three times in four plus years. Since Israel is our best and most capable ally in the Middle East and Russia is certainly not our ally, just what is going on?

Here is some of what is going on and why: This incompetent, dilettante we have in the White House, a man who prior to his 1st election, didn’t have the real world executive management experience to run a Burger King franchise, now seems surprised he has put this country in a position where he and his administration have little or no influence on how foreign nations chose to respond to political and military requests from this country, here is just one glaring example:

1. The Afgan diplomatic debacle. We are now going to negotiate with the Taliban in Qatar. Guess who is going to be their main man at the negotiating table? That would be Mullah Omar, a man we have been trying to capture or kill for several years because he was in bed with Osama Bin Laden on 9/11 and supported Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda for years in

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Afghanistan. Afgan President Karzai responded to that news by closing down any negotiations with the U.S. over post-2014 security cooperation. Karzai now realizes since Obama is so weak that he will let Mullah Omar push him around, decided he can always turn to Iran to provide assistance to his corrupt administration and country.

2. Merely to get the Taliban to the table for peace negotiations we had to wimp out and agree to Mullah Omar’s coming there on his own terms. His terms are; he will not accept the negotiated U.S./Afgan Constitution (OBTW, that Constitution guarantees a country controlled by Sharia law no freedom there and our State Department agreed with it), he will not allow a cease fire with international forces during the negotiations, he will not pledge to never again allow Afghanistan to be a base for international terrorism and the U.S. had to agree to allow the Haqqani terrorist network a seat at these negotiations. That would be the same Haqqani terrorist network that has been killing U.S. and NATO forces for years.

3. Obama, are you kidding us? Those agreements show incredible ignorance about how the Middle East mindset works, they despise the weak horse, or is Obama letting them know he will do almost anything to get out of Afghanistan right now regardless of the consequences. As above, Karzai now wants us out at 2014. That is exactly what Obama has wanted since he was forced to reinforce there by General McChristal, cunning ploy Obama. This is what we get after all the killed and mutilated American military men and women, after all that blood spent, after the trillions of dollars wasted. Obama is a Geo-Political coward or worse.

4. After Obama’s years of fumbling his duties in Afghanistan and Iraq he finds himself surprised that Iraq Prime Minister Maliki won’t lift a finger to prevent Iranian cargo aircraft overflying Iraqi airspace to resupply Assad’s military and his Russian and Hezbollah allies. As we have seen Putin’s Russia and many other countries have nothing but contempt for this President and his actions in Syria.

President Obama for whatever his reasons, is now perceived around the world as a weak man, many of these countries don’t quite understand why a man

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like him was elected as the President of the United States, which used to be known as the most powerful country in the world, but is now seen as a confused nation following paths foreign to its ideals. However they will all take whatever opportunities for advantage the Obama administration gives them. Those chickens have not yet come home to roost. That is very dangerous for America.

Obama has again failed in another of his duties as President of the United States. His administration should have become more involved early on in Syria in order to have a serious impact on attaining the most favorable result available for our country. Now it’s too late, stay out of Syria!

Now we hear Obama has finally said the U.S. will supply the Syrian rebels with weapons and military support. We will see how long it takes and what that support will really consist of. If the weapons Obama is referring to are small arms, grenade launchers, etc. they will make little difference to the outcome of this struggle; just another Obama publicity stunt.

At this time of course, it is difficult to see how we can ensure any weapons we may provide will not wind up in the hands of Islamic Jihadists that would love to use those weapons against us; don’t do that; right now, attempting to keep those weapons out of Jihadists hands sounds like mission impossible. I believe the only way we should offer any weapons assistance or any assistance in Syria to the Sunni’s, is if the Obama administration can ink an iron clad agreement with the Saudi’s, and or Jordon and or Qatar or all three, that will allow the United States Air Forces to overfly those countries and or have landing rights on their airfields if and when it becomes necessary to take out the Iranian nuclear sites. Next question, does anyone really believe our politically impaired President has any idea of doing that, of course not.

Now let’s talk about the Middle East in general, an overview so to speak. Here are some words that actually make sense from a man who knew what he is talking about in that area had fought battles there and without a doubt wanted to try and ensure stability in the Middle East for his country and the Western world.

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“The Middle East is one of the hardest-hearted areas in the world. It has always been fought over, and peace has only reigned when a major power has established firm influence and shown that it will maintain its will. Your friends must be supported with vigor and if necessary they must be avenged. Force or perhaps force and bribery, are the only things that will be respected. It is very sad, but we had all better recognize it. At present our friendship is not valued and our enmity is not feared”.

1958, Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain; in my humble opinion, the greatest politician in the 20th century and the paramount leader of his country in the first half of the 20th century;

“At present our friendship is not valued and our enmity is not feared”

That statement will become Obama’s legacy as the President of the United States.

My friends, those words encapsulate exactly where we are today in the Middle East, primarily because of this President and his administration. What is our situation there currently?

The brutal facts are we are now at the beginning of a long and vicious war against radical Islam. It’s a war Americans had better understand we are going to have to fight. What is radical Islam? Many Americans do not seem to know or care. We soon will. So let’s make it clear what we are up against.

For radical Islamists, Islam is a religion, a culture, a legal system and a total way of life. Its stated goal is to rule the world and all methods to achieve that goal are permissible. Extreme violence, fanaticism and deceit are its devices. For radical Islamists, Sharia law must be the only law allowed to adjudicate legal questions in the world. In order for that to happen, radical Islam must defeat and destroy the entire fabric of the Western world, “The Crusaders” as they call us, to destroy its meaning, its armed forces, its historical beliefs, its legal system, its economic system and all religious beliefs other than Islam. I do not for a minute believe that destruction will ever take place, but that is the Islamists ethos.

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Americans had better start to understand we must have the will to fight that tyranny in order to ensure it will not happen. That understanding is difficult for some in our country to understand when we have a President who declares, “We are not at war with radical Islam”. Of course Islamist’s are very much at war with us, I mean they keep telling us that and when they have the opportunity to, they kill us.

The United States as the only super-power in the world at this time, must not only assume a position of great strength, it must actually be strong and have the will to take whatever actions become necessary to thwart these Islamists whenever they use terror, assassination, murder or intimidation to create chaos or assume power. But when we have a President who refuses to even say the words, “Islamic terror”, it becomes difficult for some people in this country to believe the danger we are in. This man displays irresolution and weakness even at those rare times when he tells the truth.

However, even in the past the United States has not always projected the power and resolve we should be showing the world. Here is just one example, and I believe the consequences of that example. In 1994 when Bill Clinton put his tail between his legs and pulled the last American troops out of Somalia, a man named Osama Bin Laden observed what we did there. He saw we displayed weakness and that we did not have the national will to retaliate with the force necessary to punish, capture or kill those who killed our countrymen in Mogadishu, even though the United States was much more powerful than the group who attacked and killed our people. Subsequently, here is what Bin Laden wrote and what he came to believe:

“But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia where after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post-cold war leadership of the new world order, you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty-eight thousands of American soldiers into Somalia. However, when only tens of your soldiers were killed in a minor battle and one American pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu (actually there were 18 killed and 80 wounded in that battle) you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation,

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defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threating and promising revenge, but those threats were mostly a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and when you withdrew the extent of your impotence and weakness became very clear. It was a pleasure for the heart of every Muslim and remedy to the chests of believing nations to see you defeated. The world is watching”…….Osama Bin Laden

“Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threating and promising revenge, but those threats were mostly a preparation for withdrawal”. There was no revenge, no one was killed or imprisoned for what happened to our troops in Mogadishu. I wonder if Bill was too involved with interns about that time, perhaps rehearsing for Monica.

After Clinton’s shameful Somalia withdrawal in March 1994; in 1998 we suffered the al-Qaeda sponsored U.S. Embassy bombings at Nairobi Kenya and Dar es Salaam Tanzania. In 2000 al-Qaeda blew a hole in the U.S.S. Cole at dock in Aden. In that intervening six years between Mogadishu and the attack on the U.S.S. Cole we had done virtually nothing to deter al-Qaeda from attacks on the United States, our people and our property except sending a missile into an aspirin factory in Cairo (after making sure the factory was closed) and sending other missiles into some caves in Afghanistan which damaged nothing but rocks; Pathetic. It’s not like we didn’t have other options. How about a special ops team taking out some al-Qaeda big shots and pinning a note on their heads letting them know why? Yeah, that might work.

What was our response to Americans being killed and wounded around the world, to American Diplomatic Property being destroyed in countries we are friendly with, to our allies in those countries being killed and wounded by those al-Qaeda attacks? Sadly the United States of America took no effective action to punish those who committed those acts upon us and our allies. I believe our lack of response to those attacking us was the reason Bin Laden became sure that we were so weak and impotent he could order his people to plan and carry out the 9/11 attack. Are we putting ourselves in a similar dangerous position because of

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President Obama’s attitudes toward terrorist attacks (Obama has yet to use the words, Islamic Terrorists attacks) on our people and our country now?

Obama on the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi: Obama vowed, “And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring justice to the killers who attacked our people“. But in a recent press conference, Jay Carney dismissed Benghazi by saying, “Benghazi happened a long time ago”. That’s right Jay, Benghazi happened months ago, and still none of the killers have been brought to justice; the Obama administration has not even identified any of the attackers publicly. Two individuals were identified as being a part of the attack by reporters. Those two were still in Benghazi two weeks after the attack. No American action was taken to bring those two to justice, nothing was done. Oh, pardon me, there were of course two weeks of lies, fabrications and deception by Obama, Hillary and his administration flunkeys in a ridiculous attempt at a cover up of what really took place there, showing the world how this administration is incompetent and cowardly or how Obama’s radical ideology is driving us toward oncoming danger. OBTW, do not think the whole world is confused by Obama’s lies on Benghazi some of the world still has a free press.

Now, thank God, we are in the midst of a Congressional investigation convened in order to find out from people who were in Benghazi and in Washington at the time of the attack who did what to who and why. We are also finding out that these “whistle blowers” had their jobs threatened if they told the truth to Congress; Really Obama, really Hillary?

Obama and his administration must be operating with so much hubris they have lost sight of reality. It may not be looking good for Obama and Hillary. Still, some of the weak sisters in Congress will have to take off their skirts, put on their big boy pants and demand the truth and all the truth (sorry, I didn’t mean to insult the ladies). Of course our corrupt media will either try to ignore the blockbuster testimony coming out of these hearings or if they cannot do that will play the “It’s only a Republican political game, it’s irrelevant” or at least try to do that. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the main stream media handles this one. However, if enough Americans can pull themselves away from watching “Bob’s

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Burgers and Dancing with the Stars” this country just might wake up and demand to know the real truth about how and why four Americans were killed in Benghazi!!

Is Obama’s weakness giving strength and opportunity to another Osama? Who knows? In Benghazi we were again, to paraphrase Bin Laden, “Carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and our dead with us”. Based on what Obama’s administration has done to bring justice to the killers, maybe the post Bin Laden al-Qaeda might think they have figured the Obama administration out and again we are the “weak horse”. Now even in Islamic countries they are starting to understand Obama. Here is some information published in Arab newspapers, the Daily al-Sharq al-Awsat, “The problem of U.S. President Barrack Obama can be summed up in a single word, hesitation. The man is short sighted, confused and diffident”. “Obama is the weakest President in U.S. history”. Here is another from Baina al-Mulhim, columnist for the Daily al-Riyadh, “Obama has sold out the Syrian revolution, and his administration is a weak horse rather than a strong one”. If that is what Islamists think and believe, it will not be good for America.

Syria: Now let’s discuss what Obama has done or failed to do in Syria and what the consequences are of his failure to take any meaningful action there. But first it may help to have a brief history about modern Syria.

The Assad family has dominated that country since 1970 when Hafez al-Assad rose from being a Major General of the Syrian Air Force and promoted himself to become President of Syria. Hafez al-Assad ruled through a powerful and brutal network of spies and informers, many of whom were a part of Assad’s Alawite sect of Islam. The Alawite’s are an offshoot of the Shia sect of Islam. The Alawites’s comprise only about 12% of the population of Syria. The majority of the population of Syria is Sunni Muslim. That again demonstrates if you have control of a powerful armed force and have the ruthless determination to impose your will on a country, without regard for lives and suffering, one does not need a majority of the population to succeed in that endeavor. That has been proved time and time again throughout history.

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In 1979 the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist group of the Sunni sect of Islam, began to emerge as a magnet for resentment against the Assad regime. Remember the Sunni’s are a large majority in Syria. In 1982, a Sunni Islamist uprising coordinated by the Muslim Brotherhood was put down by Hafez al-Assad bombarding the town of Hama, killing thousands of Sunni Syrians.

Hafez al-Assad died in 2000 and his son, Bashar al-Assad took power. Bashar initially tried a different strategy, releasing prisoners, shutting down the notorious Mezze prison and encouraging some intellectual debate. The Damascus Spring as it was called (where have heard that one before?) proved short lived. History has showed, any dictator cannot share power with his population and remain dictator for long. Then a new Assad wave of repression clamped down and temporarily put a lid on his people’s resentment. Two years ago the lid blew off.

What is the situation in Syria now? Syria’s leadership claims the current wave of unrest and revolution is fuelled by Jihadists, a claim that has some truth to it. But two years ago most of those Syrians who were fighting to bring a better government to their country were not Jihadists. The majority of those people were just patriotic Syrians trying to improve their lives and country after over forty years of brutal repression. Had Obama stepped in then and led from the front at that time, the situation in Syria might be vastly different.

But in the last two years the composition of the Syrian insurgents has gone through a major series of changes. Syria’s main ally is Iran. Iran is the paymaster and furnishes manpower to Syria with its terrorist group Hezbollah. Iran has spent over 12 billion dollars supporting the Assad regime in the last two years. That is 12 billion dollars Iran must find it hard to spend because of the anti-nuclear sanctions being imposed upon it from Europe and the U.S. Iran’s surrogate terrorist group Hezbollah is deeply involved in the war. Hezbollah has sent thousands of It’s fighters to help Assad’s loyalists. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Unit, (Quds Force) is also present in Syria training Assad’s military. Why would Iran spend so much of its money, manpower and blood to support Assad? Here are some reasons:

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1. The last thing Shia Iran wants is a Sunni dominated Syria.2. Syria is Iran’s last ally in that region.3. Syria is the main financial and arms conduit to the Shia Hezbollah in

Lebanon, which Iran uses to threaten Israel with missiles and terrorist attacks.

4. Israel is the only country Iran really fears might take out its nuclear program, so any way Iran can threaten and have some leverage over Israel is vital to them.

The other major country supporting Syria is Russia. Assad has granted the Russian Navy berthing and port facilities in the Syrian port of Tartus. That is the only port the Russians have in the Mediterranean. The Russian Navy believes Tartus is essential to them: their Navy wants that Mediterranean port. In return Putin supports Assad and has supplied Syria with attack helicopters, Russian made SA-17 shoulder fired surface to air missiles, Russian Yahout coast to sea missiles and S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, among other military supplies. Those S-300 missiles, if put into operation, are going to make it very difficult for anyone to establish a “no fly zone” to protect anti-Assad forces.

Russia also does not want to see a Sunni controlled Syria. Russia has been involved in a vicious 20 year war in the Sunni dominated Caucasus, primarily in Chechnya. Chechen’s now comprise a large percentage of the rebel force. Any victories by the Sunni’s in Syria will encourage the Sunni’s in the Caucasus’s to continue and perhaps escalate that war. Russian will continue to do business with and support Assad, but will it intervene decisively enough to insure an Assad victory? It now appears that may well happen.

If the Obama administration had a game plan in place for Syria two or three years ago and had acted on it at that time, the current situation there probably would now be far more favorable to our country. Having served in highly classified security positions in the USAF (Cat 5 T.S./S.C.I. Clearance) I know our armed forces and intelligence agencies have contingency plans for almost any situation that can happen anywhere in the world, and especially in the so called “hot spots” such as Syria. I fail to understand why we did not use our contingency plans for Syria and

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why no action was taken when it must have become obvious action was needed to enhance U.S. interests. By the way, I am not saying boots on the ground we do not need American troops fighting in Syria. I do not see where Obama has provided any leadership on Syria that would give us leverage on whatever group takes control of that country. At this point, do Obama’s geopolitical non-decisions on Syria just reflect the incompetence of his administration or perhaps is there another reason for Obama’s lack of command and control in another international crisis?

The next question I have is this: Why was Obama so concerned about Egypt and Libya and yet had little concern about Syria? I know I know he talked a lot about Assad killing his people and using chemical weapons, what he might do if that did not stop; so what, talk is cheap and Obama does a lot of it. But Obama did nothing. In March 2011 Obama’s Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton made this statement, “No the U.S. would not enter into the internal conflict in Syria the way it has in Libya because Assad is a “reformer”. Some reformer, Assad has now over ninety-thousand dead Syrians to his credit. It appears Gadhafi should have taken lessons from Assad.

We help depose Gadhafi, who was a murderous pervert but was no threat to us. We now have a Libya controlled, if anyone is in control, by Jihadists who have killed ours Ambassador and three other brave Americans. We stand by and watch Mubarak go down and he was actually a help to us and Israel in the Middle East. Now we have Morsi as the President of Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood controls that government. Unlike Mubarak, Morsi hates Israel and doesn’t mind telling the world he does. Morsi doesn’t much like America either, except for the billions of dollars we foolishly provide him.

The Muslim Brotherhood controls the Egyptian government, it is an Islamic fundamentalist organization and is aligned with groups like Hamas, the Islamist Jihad and other Islamists groups; all have been identified by our government as terrorist organizations.

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Libya is a failed state that has broken down into regional areas controlled by various radical Islamic and terrorists warlords. Flash message to the American lame stream media. The fantasy of the “Arab Spring” you and Obama were so delighted with has become an “Arab Nightmare” for anyone except those who want Jihad and Islamist victories in that area. Are we now going to get some truth about the Middle East from our corrupt media? Please put on the laugh track.

Here is some truth. If we had helped bring down Assad two years ago by offering some support for moderate Muslims, we might have badly damaged or destroyed Hezbollah’s power in Syria, Lebanon and other parts of the world. If we had done that, we would have damaged or destroyed Iran’s power and influence in Syria and the Lebanon. Had those actions taken place Iran would have become isolated and much weaker. Because of that isolation and lack of influence, Iran might have been more open to abandoning their quest for nuclear weapons through negations. For God’s sake, if we were going to become involved in a military support structure to help bring down a government anywhere in the Middle East, Syria not Libya was the low hanging fruit.

The rewards for assisting Syrians in removing Assad and replacing him with a more moderate Syrian government would have been staggering! So WHY would Obama choose to become involved in the Libyan quagmire but ignore Syria? Decisions are normally justified by results. What are the results of Obama’s adventure in Libya? The situation in Libya now is a country in chaos, Islamists in control of most of the country. Some of those radical Islamists repaid Obama’s efforts there by killing our Ambassador and three other Americans, attacking and destroying our diplomatic property and under Obama’s failing leadership, getting away with it. Besides, Libya was a non-entity in the international world. Once Gadhafi was cowed in the eighties, he was no longer a problem for anyone but his own people and al-Qaeda in Libya who hated him. There was no upside for us in Libya. What was Obama thinking about getting us involved there?

We cannot protect all the people in countries around the world from their barbaric rulers, there are far too many of them; example, why Libya and why not Darfur? Darfur has had genocide by Islamists against Christians and other non-

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Islamic people going on there long before Libya came off the tracks. Thousands of people are being brutalized and murdered there. So why Libya, we should have just let Libya continue its long history of terrible government and rulers. As we have seen, that’s what Libya is now doing anyway. Zero sum game Obama.

It is becoming apparent there are few good guys left opposing Assad. There is a collection of hard line Sunni Jihadists from all over the word involved in fighting the Assad government, many of them coming from Iraq and Afghanistan where they have fought and killed American and NATO troops. Hezbollah and al-Qaeda are heavily involved. One of the reasons Obama and Hillary tried to pull off their “it was a social media tape cover up” may well have been because the weapons running out of Benghazi had included shoulder fired surface to air missiles. Those missiles may have wound up in the hands of some radical Islamists. That is beyond insane; no airliner in the world would be safe. Who made a ridiculous decision like that? I guess that would be a question to ask Obama or Hillary. Those Islamists may acquire surface to air missiles anyway, but please God, not from us.

I believe it is far too late to do anything of value for America in Syria. The rebel groups who dominate the rebellion are primarily radical Jihadists who hate America and the West. It may be the best conclusion to the rebellion for the Assad regime will be a ceasefire in order to accept a divided Syria: Awalite/Shia areas, Sunni areas and Kurdish areas. But I do not believe that will happen. I believe the Sunni majority in Syria who has been oppressed for decades will not want stop until the Assad regime is gone, if they can win. We will see.

However, the joker in this deck is Putin. If Russia decides to go all out in support of Assad, that would be a game changer. At last week’s G-8 summit, it appeared Putin was warning the other seven nations there, not to create any “no fly zones”. The S-300 anti-aircraft missiles Putin has brought into Syria would make a no fly zone extremely costly to penetrate, perhaps many airplanes destroyed. I know Obama will not chance that.

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In Syria we are faced with a war between two evil powers, the Assad tyranny or a rebel force now primarily composed of radical Sunni –Sharia law Islamists. What could have been, what might have been is now irrelevant. Whatever the outcome turns out to be, Syria will probably become another failed nation in the Middle East. If the Sunni forces prevail, the next conflict may well be in the Lebanon where the Iranian backed Shia Hezbollah will have to make a stand. Syria will not be a friendly place for anyone other than militant Islamists of one flavor or another. On Syria, opposite of Teddy Roosevelt’s advice, Obama has talked loudly and carried only a very little stick.

R.L. Howard

P. S.

Let me declare up front, I do not like President Putin or his Russia. Putin was a KGB thug. He is now President of Russia and is still a thug. However, think about this. Putin’s main concern in Syria, he says, is the fear that a radical Sunni Islamic group, perhaps al-Qaeda, will take over that country if Assad goes. Putin does not want another Sunni Islamist government in the Middle East. Putin has supplied Assad with modern weapons and military equipment to support him. Ok, obviously there is more than that involved, but let’s go with that for now. At least Putin is putting his money where his mouth is.

Now, let’s take a look at what America has been doing over the years in the Middle East. President Carter decides Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, is not a very nice guy. Carter says his secret police (SAVAK) are brutal (they were), democracy is not in bloom there (it wasn’t) and the Shah’s regime therefore does not deserve the continued support of the Carter government. However, the Shah is a big supporter of our country and he is trying to pull Iran out of the 7th century theocracy the mullahs want to keep it in. The Shah had the best and most modern armed forces in the Middle East at that time (we had sold him advanced weapons, tanks, and modern jet aircraft). The Shah was prepared to use his government to support the U.S. efforts in the Middle East. But, President Carter’s

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delicate sensibilities are offended by the rough and tumble politics in Iran. Carter fails to provide the amount of support his Secretary of Defense, Zibgniew Brzezinski says is required to support the Shah. The Shah’s government falls and in the vacuum that follows, the forces of radical Islam fill that vacuum. Carter however, does nothing to prevent the Ayatollah Khomeini from seizing power. Carter says nice things about Khomeini I mean Carter tells us he admires religious people. Then Khomeini takes control of Iran and we all know what the result of that stupidity was. We are still suffering from those ridiculous, incompetent decisions, made by an American President that have now played their part in putting the world in potential nuclear danger.

Now we fast forward to another American President, Barrack Obama. President Mubarak of Egypt was another man who ran a very authoritarian government. His secret police, El Mukhabarat, were brutal. Many Egyptians were tortured and killed. Mubarak did not allow radical Islamists to have any power in Egypt, he put them in prison, and many did not get out. Let’s face it folks, none of these Middle East leaders, with the exception of those in Israel, would last five minutes in the U.S. or other western countries. But they govern in the Middle East, a much different set of metrics. President Mubarak’s Egyptian government was, to paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, “the worst choice to govern the Egyptians, except for all the others”.

Now the “Arab Spring fantasy” arrives, the Obama administration and our main stream media go giddy. Democracy is finally breaking out in the Middle East. Sure it was. The real result of all that “Democracy” is that the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamist cabal, is now in control of Egypt. While Mubarak supported the peace with Israel and supported his U.S. alliance, the new President of Egypt, Morsi, hates Israel and does not much like American either except for the billions of dollars we foolishly provide him and his Muslim Brotherhood government.

So again, history repeats itself. Another American President is so incompetent, deluded or has such a different international agenda, as to throw a government, who supports our efforts for a stable Middle East, under the bus. We could have

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done much more to support Mubarak, because we needed his support in that area. Ok, let’s say it was time for Mubarak to go, but with any intelligent political foresight and planning we might have been able to assist Mubarak through a transition into a temporary Egyptian military government to stabilize the country (the Egyptian military was the most popular government entity in that country at that time) until a moderate Egyptian government had a chance to win an election.**(see below) But, oh no, Obama and his administration stands around and takes no action to support a critical ally. I refuse to believe our intelligence agencies did not have computer models that would have shown inaction by our government at that time would give the Muslim Brotherhood a significant opportunity to win an early election and take over the Egyptian government.

Great planning and superb political insight Obama, we now can welcome a new Egyptian government who hates America (we heard it on live T.V.) and will probably assist in doing this country great harm. But that seems to be ok with most of our politicians and our media after all it was a Democratic election. Unfortunately in these countries that works out to be “one man, one vote, one time”. After that, outfits like the Muslim Brotherhood take over and there is never another vote in those countries unless there another revolution.

I am sorry to say, compared to Carter and Obama, Putin’s reasoning doesn’t look so bad after all.

**

Update: The Egyptian Army finally decided to take control of the country which was rapidly descending into Islamist chaos. When Mubarak was deposed I thought the Army would step in at that time. But at his point, a military coup (that what it really is) and an organized professional military leadership that maintains order while giving Egyptian society the chance to stabilize, is the only opportunity Egypt has for some kind of a free country. But who knows if the Egyptian military can achieve that task?

R. L. Howard, May 2013

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