It's a Serious Vote..... Act Accordingly

Jim Stokes, of Victoria wrote a very sarcastic partisan  letter about a very serious subject.He can make it about President Obama painting a red line but it's about our role in the international community when a tyrant uses chemical gas on it's people.

It looks as thou Mr. Stokes is still looking for justification for the Iraq War fiasco by involving Benghazi once again.I guess Mr. Stokes thinks we should still have troops in Iraq.

Mr. Stokes is still pushing the myth that Iraq moved their WMD to Syria. For one,we don't have any satellite photos to prove that happened,and dictators don't trust their potential enemies enough to give them chemical weapons to hold for them and finally ,we know how much sarin gas Syria had before we invaded Iraq and we know how much they have today.

The use of chemical weapons is an international no-no and I still believe any American president would have issued the same condemnation.Joe Scarborough thinks  that Assad gassed his people because he's not afraid of Obama. He may not be afraid of Obama but since when do we give an irrational tyrant kudos? He probably decided to use sarin gas to show his supporters that he would pull out all the stops to remain in power.    About 2 million Syrian civilians have fled their country,so Assad used the gas to hurry the exit of the remaining civilians and then he can bring in the heavy artillery to put down the uprising.

I respect the views of those who don't want our country to be involved in yet another Middle -East conflict. There's no guarantee that a simple targeted bombing mission will not escalate into something else. We certainly don't know how Assad will react but he's well aware of our military power and he knows that Israel is chomping at the bit to get involved. 

Russia has assured Syria that they will replace any damage we do. A senator said that if any American or ally were ever the victims of the gas, then he wouldn't have any problem supporting the resolution to bomb the facilities. I can understand that rationale but It's not mine. I don't agree with Mr. Bankston , who seems to think that all Muslims were responsible for 9/11. How Christian of him.

Russia, Iran, Syria,the U.N And even the bipartisan "Doctors without Borders" all admit that sarin gas was used. The countries I mentioned are placing  the blame on the rebels

but all throughout history only state run governments have used these weapons. The rebels don't own any rockets to propel the gas besides the gas was used in rebel controlled areas.

The Senate did the  responsible thing and cut their vacation short to debate and vote on a resolution pretty soon. The more hostile and  partisan  battles will occur in House of Representatives, so the outcome of those votes are still up in the air. 

Indecision on Syria

Since I didn't have much else to do, I watched just about every program that mentioned Syria. You'd be surprised how many armchair generals (pundits) know exactly what needs to be done and how it will turn out.

I was very disappointed in the media coverage, especially Meet the Press with David Gregory. It seemed like David was more interested in  Obama's change of mind and its effect on his aide's feelings, than he was on the final decision. I expected that from Chris Wallace, and I was not disappointed. Chris Wallace asked John Kerry if it was appropriate for the Pres. to take VP Joe Biden golfing after decision was made. Here's my take on the golf outing: VP Joe Biden has been under a lot of stress lately concerning his son's recent illness and the weight of the worlds problems; a relaxing golf outing where the two leaders could relax makes a lot of sense to me.

The media correctly  stated that the shadow of  the  Iraq War looms large in the decision making of this president and for those of our allies.

The president's. enemies said his Indecisive  actions makes him look weak to our friends and foes. I disagree,President Obama is a deliberate person and not one to make a hasty decision. Besides,he's the Commander- in -Chief of the world's mightiest ,most advance military,so how could he possibly be weak? The British Parliament made a hastily decision to come back to vote without the full body and we saw the results. Who knows how many world leader's minds will be changed while we await our Congress to debate? Our military got to see the Syrian response when they thought they were going to get shelled. The Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Dempsey told the president that the same fixed targets would be there tomorrow or next month.

The president reminded those who call him a dictator that we have a "Constitutional Democracy" and now is the time to utilize that responsibility. Many of the president's detractors say he has weaken the special war powers of the president  forever. I think  it was a brilliant move, because those who usually sit on the sideline and throw verbal bombs will now have to cast a vote stating what they'll do in a similar situation. Many of those legislators will hear what they said in 2001 prior to the Iraq War.The Tea Party member who thought they were only sent to Washington to cut taxes,spending and defund Obamacare will have a rude awakening beginning September 9,2013.

Yesterdy,on Meet the Press,Bill Kristol took the first step in mending fence ,by admitting that Bush 41 made several mistakes prior to liberating the people of Kuwait in 1991. He went on to say that last weeks missteps by the Obama Administration won't amount to anything.

Accountability is what's missing these days. All of the Democratic candidates for president in 2008 had to admit that their vote for the Iraq War was a mistake. Hillary Clinton says she was mislead but that was not enough and that's the reason she lost. The GOP will not admit their mistakes ;be it the Iraq War or the 2008 financial crisis; they won't even admit that Obama legitimately won the 2008 and 2012 elections.The fact that they are a leaderless party may be a big reason for that.

No question,the country is war weary because half of the Syrian rebels have extremist Islamic ties and they are fighting a ruthless dictator.It's foolish to take sides in a civil war that will go on for decades.On the other hand, can we sit idly as a ruthless dictator uses chemical weapons on innocent children and civilians?The president has been criticized for issuing his "Red Line" statement  but can you name one American president who would not have done the same?