Stand-Up Syria

The NY Times finds the lighter side of the Syrian debacle by going to Syria and asking the locals about Obama's latest decision to wait for Congress:

For another Homs resident, Abu Bassam, 31, the only possible response was black humor.

“Man, I wish Bush was the president,” he said. “He would have reacted right away. He may have invaded Cyprus or Jordan instead of Syria by mistake, but you know he would have done something at least.”

We hear from a future Hannity guest:

Umm Hana, 58, watched Mr. Obama’s speech with her husband and children in the central city of Homs, where government opponents have faced some of the country’s fiercest army shelling. She said she regretted wasting time on him.

“It is just so clear — they are playing us like puppets, but they all want him to stay,” she said, referring to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. “Obama is full of talk. He’s so weak and useless.”

And Rachel Maddow will want to book this handwringing progressive:

Khalid al-Shami, a humanitarian aid worker in Damascus, summed up the quandary.

“I am against the military intervention in Syria if it will turn the country into the new Iraq,” he said. “I stand for it if it will in any way help to save souls.”

No worries - Obama and Kerry are for this now but they will be against it soon enough.

Closer to home, the Times finds some insightful Congressional Republicans:

“Obama hasn’t got a chance to win this vote if he can’t win the majority of his own party, and I doubt he can,” Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a leading Republican, said in an interview. “Democrats have been conspicuously silent. Just about his only support is coming from Republicans. He is a war president without a war party.”

And Republicans aren't feeling pressure to give Obama a blank check:

“It will be an uphill battle for the president to convince me because I think he has handled this entire situation quite poorly,” said Representative Tim Griffin, Republican of Arkansas. “And frankly I am reluctant to give him a license for war when, with all due respect, I have little confidence he knows what he is doing.”

I don't know if they are right but I said the same thing yesterday.

BEHIND THE THIRD DOOR... We have three choices in Syria. One is bad and two are worse. I'm hoping for "bad" at this point.

WE HEAR FROM CECIL TURNER: From the comments, the menu of military options in Syria as presented by longtime savant Cecil Turner:

No, there are lots of options. Starting with a decapitation strike (with Tomahawks and bombers, not drones) and running down through a no-fly zone or degrading his air forces. Or we could invade (physically possible, though politically unsalable). There just isn't any magic wand to make it all neat and painless.

And fearless leader has steadfastly resisted calls for the no fly zone, and apparently ruled out a decapitation strike. So yeah, he's pretty much limited himself to fecklessness. And since chem usage in Syria is hardly a pillar of our national strategic interest, it's fecklessness in support of irrelevance.

 

 

Comments

[Danube on iPad]

Hapless, feckless amateur. A disgrace to the office.

[mockmook]

Just loved how Obambi started his remarks so forcefully, then ran for the (capitol) hill(s)--please stop me before I bomb again!!!

[James D.]

“And frankly I am reluctant to give him a license for war when, with all due respect, I have little confidence he knows what he is doing.”

I'd take out the "with all due respect" because, frankly, Zero isn't due any, but other than that, this pretty much sums up my view on the subject.

[nice]

nice...

[Clarice]

Should we stick with BoZo or move over to Obomber? Inquiring minds want to know.

[sbwaters]

At Drudge, Obama's shoe on the history of the United States is despicable.

[Gmax]

In fact, I would say the corollary is also true:

I have immense confidence he does not have a clue about which he is doing.

[Heisenberg]

Still uncommitted. You have to make up your mind which you hate more, Obama light or Obama goin' in heavy. Or is it Fielders Choice?

Oh well. The shell-game is of no interest; just ODS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_fluoride

Was this stuff the source? Stored along with sodium fluoride (for good tooth enamel !)

Sold to Syria 10 months after rebellion began.

"Export licences for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride were granted months after the bloody civil war in the Middle East began."

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/britain-sold-nerve-gas-chemicals-2242520

[Account Deleted]

Clarice,

The clown show will continue with or without a bombing interlude so I vote for BOzo.

It would be interesting to see the GOP adopt a unified "continuum of failure" approach to Syria tying it to the Clinton/Obama "Arab Spring" idiocy with examples of the current state of Libya and Egypt as rationale for not applauding the President's proposal to play with another grenade.

The concept of continuum of failure could also be utilized in coming months as the stumble out and fall of Obamacare becomes obvious to everyone excepting brain dead progs.

[Ignatz]

--At Drudge, Obama's shoe on the history of the United States is despicable.--

I have a hard time imagining another president, Dem or Rep, doing that in private although it's possible.
I absolutely can not conceive even of BillyJeff in his most whore mongering fever letting himself be photographed doing that.
Class is to Barry as comedy is to Jerry Lewis.

[the Howard]

Shoe/POTUS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duLds-TZMGw

[Danube on iPad]

I'd sure hate to see what stupid diplomacy looks like.

[peter]

Iggy, class is to Barry as freezing temperatures is to the sun.

[Danube on iPad]

"We've been eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked."

--Dean Rusk, October 1962

--Bashar Al Assad, September 2013

[Account Deleted]

DoT,

Remember not to use "Clinton "reset button" Russia" in a search string if you would really hate to see stupid diplomacy. Avoid anything referencing "Arab Spring" as well.

[Jane-sun - the squaw]

"The concept of continuum of failure could also be utilized in coming months as the stumble out and fall of Obamacare becomes obvious to everyone excepting brain dead progs."

I agree. Incompetence should be the rallying cry. Hillary can be brought in on that one too.

[daddy]

OT.

Will start catch-up in a second but just got in from a wonderful Hindu meal at a local joint in Bangalore and worth a road trip mention I think.

Temp is decent, sun was fully down so it was dark, but before we stated walking the half mile from the fancy hotel to Nandini's restaurant the hotel staff strongly recommended umbrellas---great call. Earlier in the day I had done a long hike around a golf course and the horse racing track and a couple of temples without incident, but now the skies opened up and after about 100 yards we were clobbered with torrential monsoon rains out of nowhere, but it was so fun and funny that shipmate and I just started laughing and accepting it as unexpected adventure.

We hiked in file along the shoulder of an unlighted highway on broken pavement, with trikes and cab's whipping past and clobbering us with the spray from their wheels of the rapid streams of water roaring down the pavement. Total drenchings were initially met with squeamishness and in vain attempts to avoid soakings, but then turned to laughter as they were continuous and inevitable, and under an overpass it was fun to have to weave thru traffic ankle deep in puddles, to make our way around a cluster of huddled motorcyclists and their passengers, hiding from the rain underneath the overpass.

Anyhow, made it to this joint a bit later, superb local chow at unbelievable prices; garlic nann, murghs, tandori stuff, aloo gobi's, sauces and spices to kill, slathered down with Hindu beer, and the exciting return stomp to the hotel to look forward to.

Just back at the room, dumped my drenched clothes off with the Laundry guys, and now am down at the fun Cricket Bar for the nightcap with decent Wifi. Current read is William Dalrymple's White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India, which is enormously interesting and informative, and all about western boys going native in India.

I'm game!

[sbwaters]

The proper pushback to Obama statism flows not from the Bill of RIghts, but from the Preamble to the Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to . . . secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Individuals are primary. Liberty is primary. The state only serves.

[Gmax]

The state only serves.

What a summons? A Warrant?

[Jane-sun - the squaw]

Great Daddy!

[Clarice]

You must have a stomach lined with steel. I love India and Indian food but was petrified of eating in most places away from hotels.

[Ignatz]

If I put myself in a FedEx box and mail myself around the world will you take me with you, daddy?

[Clarice]

I asked to stow away first.

[Clarice]

A really side splitting ace post:http://ace.mu.nu/archives/342996.php

[sbwaters]

Betsy doubtless turning art nouveau into art progressif.

[Ignatz]

--I asked to stow away first.-

Stow aways are freeloaders.
I'm paying the freight.
Get your own box and we'll talk. :)