Thoughts on Syria

My long-time internet friend Steve Schippert (USMC, Ret.), who has an intelligence background, has weighed in on Syria.  I feel quite flattered, considering his knowledge and expertise, that he feels as I do:  In Syria, the most brutish forces are battling it out amongst each other in a civil war that will end only with the last man standing (all women and children on both sides of the battle having long since been slaughtered or, if lucky, relocated).

Moreover, despite the fact that we are appalled by the savagery, with each side striving to outdo each other with mass civilian slaughters (although Assad has an edge with his nerve gas) we have absolutely no dog in the fight:  both sides are evil and both are advancing values antithetical to traditional American notions of freedom.  Whether we side with Assad or Al Qaeda, if we go in, we will come out smelling like fecal matter and covered in blood, our own and everyone else’s.

Obama is inexorably pushing us to battle in Iran, but it is impossible to imagine that he has an actual objective, other than to make it so that nobody can say that he lied a year ago with his foolish, unprep’d statement about “red lines.”  Or as Steve says, “our president, befuddled and largely disinterested in foreign policy, makes clumsy remarks about “red lines” that get modified as they are ignored until the whole world laughs. That’s no reason to strike bad guys, which helps the other bad guys. And it’s no foreign policy. So sit still, keep quiet, and let Red on Red play out.”

The only thing I want to add is that this is what happens when the world’s policeman bows out.  Whether looking at a single country (Syria or Egypt) or an entire region, when there is no restraining hand on the leash, tyrants will rise up.