By John Ransom
Monday, September 09, 2013
Obama wants you to know that he didn’t build that “red
line” in Syria.
You built it.
The roads and bridges and firefighters and the soldiers,
sailors and airmen that you pay with your taxes, they built that red line.
The seas that have risen unabated thanks to global
warming, the despair caused by the War on Women in the Arab world- you know the
one where the Catholic Church in the United States objects to paying for
abortions and birth control?- these are things the world community contributed
to building that red line in Syria.
Thus, the world, helped build that red line too.
It’s their red line. And your red line.
But Obama did not build that line.
He didn’t build it. Nor does he own it. He didn’t build
the economy or the healthcare system or the rescue of Detroit either.
Not. Obama.
In fact, he told me he was playing cards during all that
stuff.
Secretary of State John Kerry wants you to know that
while the invasion of Iraq didn’t pass his or the world community’s “global
smell test,” that the Syria thing is an entirely different matter, even if the
world disagrees with him.
When pressed for details on how the Syrian intervention
passes the “global smell test,” the White House offered up the latest
technology: the “common sense test.”
From the Associated Press:
The White House asserted Sunday that a "common-sense
test" dictates the Syrian government is responsible for a chemical weapons
attack that President Barack Obama says demands a U.S. military response. But
Obama's top aide says the administration lacks "irrefutable,
beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence" that skeptical Americans, including
lawmakers who will start voting on military action this week, are seeking.
"This is not a court of law. And intelligence does
not work that way," White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said, part
of a five-network public relations blitz Sunday to build support for limited
strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"The common-sense test says he is responsible for
this. He should be held to account," McDonough said of the Syrian leader
who for two years has resisted calls from inside and outside his country to
step down.
White House Chief of Staff McDonough knows A LOT about
how intelligence works too, if not common sense…or, you know, the actual
science of sarin gas detection.
McDonough handled strategic communications and chief of
staff duties for the National Security Council during the lock-down, no leak,
worldwide Obama-killed-Osama-with-His-Bare-Hands tour that later was made into
several TV movies.
You remember them? The films made after the White House
turned over all the classified documents on the bin Laden killing to those
top-secret keepers in Hollywood who write stories for a living?
McDonough apparently handled the ultra scientific part of
intelligence for the National Security Council where stuff was “fabricated,”...
to use the intell lingo that he’s familiar with.
Because while the data from Syria that government forces
under Assad used sarin gas on civilians may pass the White House’s “common sense
test,” we all know that that bar is pretty low.
Two words: Joe Biden.
Someone may have used sarin gas in Syria, but it's just
as likely Obama's rebel allies did it as the Assad regime did.
As our contributor from NightWatch has pointed out, the
White House common sense test would go down better with cookies and warm milk
than it would as intelligence (also known as G2):
“With this Russian document,” writes NightWatch, “there
are four national reports about the use of gas in Syria; one each from the US,
France, the UK and Russia. The three Western reports provide circumstantial
evidence at best. They are not intelligence appraisals because they fail to
address contradictory and contrarian evidence that is at least as strong as
that which they present in support of their case. They are advocacy, not
intelligence.”
NightWatch is not alone in their criticism of the White
House G2.
Differences regarding intelligence on the composition,
strength and leadership of the rebels also plagues the executive branch.
“US Secretary of State John Kerry's public assertions
that moderate Syrian opposition groups are growing in influence appear to be at
odds with estimates by US and European intelligence sources and nongovernmental
experts,” writes the Jerusalem Post, “who say Islamic extremists remain by far
the fiercest and best-organized rebel elements."
Perhaps that’s the reason why the White House wants to
shut down debate on Syrian intelligence, just as they have on every issue of
importance from global warming to alternative energy to job creation to
Obamacare.
(Hint: The White House has been very, very-- even
historically-- wrong on some of these issues of “settled” science that they no
longer want to debate.)
“White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said ‘nobody
now debates’ U.S. intelligence showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is
responsible for a deadly chemical attack near Damascus last month,” reported
Bloomberg.com.
Uh, no one in the White House debates it. The rest of us
still have our doubts
“He is responsible for this and should be held
accountable,” McDonough said several times while tapping his ruby slippers
together.
So now all we can do is wait for Al Gore to make a cameo
appearance with his Nobel Prize and a new movie, WMD’s II: The Inconvenient
Spoof.
“Bush did some things every president should do in
embarking on any major military venture,” explains the Chicago Tribune. “He
stated a clear mission (removing Saddam), explained his reasons to the American
people over and over, and took concrete measures to achieve his objective.
Those are areas where Barack Obama might have learned from Bush. If he had, the
task of confronting Syria's Bashar Assad would be a lot easier.”
Using Bush's communication strategy regarding the war in
Iraq as a communication template for the Obama administration just tells you
how far gone this administration is on Syria.
Out of touch? Ha! Out of excuses is more like it.
Obama should listen to his hometown paper's indictment of
John Kerry's would-be "war of choice" in Syria. It won't just be a
bumper sticker. Real people will die.
Because if Obama wanted to make the case that there was a
“right” way to go to war, a "right" way to build a consensus or a
"right" way to build coalition, there is one thing he proved for
sure: He didn’t build any of it.
But here’s a finger wag to the Tribunes of the world, the
ones that endorsed Obama-for-president twice, and the liberals and the
peaceniks and Occupiers and racist deniers who thought Obama brought us peace
in our time.
Psalm 55:21... ahem:
The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war
was in his heart.
YOU built that part.
And now you know how the rest of us feel.
You can un-build this any time now.
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