Lining up support for Syria

Syria is a tough sell, not only to US taxpayers, but also the world. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough argued today on CNN that Syria isn’t Afghanistan or Iraq;

“This is not Iraq or Afghanistan. This is not Libya,” he told CNN’s chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley. “This is not an extended air campaign. This is something that’s targeted, limited and effective, so as to underscore that (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) should not think that he could get away with this again.”

His comments echoed sentiments from President Barack Obama’s weekly address on Saturday, in which the president pledged U.S. action would not amount to “an open-ended intervention.”

Well, yeah, it’s not Iraq or Afghanistan – George W Bush had more than 50 members in his international coalition, almost a third of the countries in the world. Today, Secretary of State, John Kerry bragged that the coalition for the Syria adventure had just reached “double digits”. So, ten is good, right?

When both presidents Bush assembled their coalitions, they didn’t have the Chinese and Russian Navies sailing into the waters around the area to protect their ally, but there those navies are for this one.

For his war with Saddam Hussein, George W Bush spent over a year preparing for it. He waited patiently for UN inspectors to do their jobs as best they could and positioned troops and their support around Iraq. This president drew a “red line” and promptly forgot about it a year ago, despite their own admissions that they had evidence that the “red line” had been crossed several times in the last year.

Both presidents Bush laid out their case for war to the American public. The Associated Press noticed that the American public is withholding their support because no one is showing us any sort of evidence;

The Obama administration, searching for support from a divided Congress and skeptical world leaders, says its own assessment is based mainly on satellite and signals intelligence, including intercepted communications and satellite images indicating that in the three days prior to the attack that the regime was preparing to use poisonous gas.

But multiple requests to view that satellite imagery have been denied, though the administration produced copious amounts of satellite imagery earlier in the war to show the results of the Syrian regime’s military onslaught. When asked Friday whether such imagery would be made available showing the Aug. 21 incident, a spokesman referred The Associated Press to a map produced by the White House last week that shows what officials say are the unconfirmed areas that were attacked.

The Obama administration maintains it intercepted communications from a senior Syrian official on the use of chemical weapons, but requests to see that transcript have been denied. So has a request by the AP to see a transcript of communications allegedly ordering Syrian military personnel to prepare for a chemical weapons attack by readying gas masks.

Presidents Bush allowed Congress to take their sweet time until they finally approved military action in the various conflicts, but the Star & Stripes noticed that the Obama Administration is rushing Congress to come a conclusion on the President’s time schedule instead of their own.

The Obama administration has conducted a variety of briefings and conference calls during the congressional recess to try to convince lawmakers of the chemical attack and win support for a military strike authorization, even though Obama has asserted that he has the authority even without approval from Capitol Hill. While a congressional vote is far from certain, his position has been strengthened in recent days by statements of support from some of Congress’ prominent Republicans — Sen. John McCain of Arizona, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, among others.

But many observers say much more still needs to be done to make a convincing case for action.

I guess there’s a big difference between saying there’s a red line and actually drawing one. So, this really isn’t like Iraq and Afghanistan, at all. It’s more like a “Charlie Foxtrot” playing out right before our eyes.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War