Dear Editor,
Obama has made a move that we should all applaud as a respect for due process, in refusing to attack the Syrian regime before getting the approval of Congress.
The world has become a much safer place since the Whitehouse became occupied by a president who deliberates and thinks before acting. Had he bombed Syria earlier, he would be in a quandary now, trying to prove that such attacks were carried out by the Syrian regime.
Obama does not have to prove that he can and will take decisive actions when the need arises. Shortly after being elected, he did not deliberate for long before sending in Navy Seals to rescue hostages from Somali pirates, and he went against the advice of some of his advisors and sent in the seals rather than drones to get Osama bin Laden. In the latter case he embarrassed the Pakistanis by showing the world where the most wanted terrorist had been hiding, muting any protest from them. Had he used drones, the world would still be arguing about whether or not the drones had really killed the right person, and protests would have spread all over the world. It was a great strategic decision to do it in the way he did, taken at great political risk, which, had it not succeeded would have destroyed him politically and given the vulgar right and the ability to mock him and profile him.
Obama's only mistake in this issue had been to publicly draw a red line. But he should be applauded for not acting just to appear tough, and for seeking the backing of Congress. As he put it, it is not a matter of his credibility being at stake. This is not a case where Americans are being held hostage in Syria, or have been attacked and killed by the regime and quick decisive action is required. This case requires whole scale condemnation and action supported by the entire world.
Ideally, the problem could be easily solved if the Russians came on board and condemned the slaughter and forced al-Assad out, allowing some sort of negotiations to take place between his present supporters and the rebels. That is unlikely to happen. Obama has been profiled by the vulgar right which includes most of the present Republican party, as an incompetent, leftist who is stupid, indecisive and soft. In doing so, they have been making the same mistake that Democrats used to make with Ronald Reagan during his tenure.
It has been a clear case of underrating the opponent. Any president who is distrusted by a combination of the vulgar left, the vulgar right, Islamist as well as Zionist extremist, is likely to be acting in the interest of his own country and the world. The truth is that it is one of the ways in which Obama is becoming a transformative president, by changing the way in which military decisions are made. The commander-in-chief makes unilateral decisions during a crisis which requires immediate action. This is what the present power of the president to act militarily without Congressional approval was intended to accommodate. But will henceforth require the backing of Congress to go to war.
R Howard Thompson
Mandeville
howardthompson507@yahoo.com
Obama, Syria and profiling
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Obama has made a move that we should all applaud as a respect for due process, in refusing to attack the Syrian regime before getting the approval of Congress.
The world has become a much safer place since the Whitehouse became occupied by a president who deliberates and thinks before acting. Had he bombed Syria earlier, he would be in a quandary now, trying to prove that such attacks were carried out by the Syrian regime.
Obama does not have to prove that he can and will take decisive actions when the need arises. Shortly after being elected, he did not deliberate for long before sending in Navy Seals to rescue hostages from Somali pirates, and he went against the advice of some of his advisors and sent in the seals rather than drones to get Osama bin Laden. In the latter case he embarrassed the Pakistanis by showing the world where the most wanted terrorist had been hiding, muting any protest from them. Had he used drones, the world would still be arguing about whether or not the drones had really killed the right person, and protests would have spread all over the world. It was a great strategic decision to do it in the way he did, taken at great political risk, which, had it not succeeded would have destroyed him politically and given the vulgar right and the ability to mock him and profile him.
Obama's only mistake in this issue had been to publicly draw a red line. But he should be applauded for not acting just to appear tough, and for seeking the backing of Congress. As he put it, it is not a matter of his credibility being at stake. This is not a case where Americans are being held hostage in Syria, or have been attacked and killed by the regime and quick decisive action is required. This case requires whole scale condemnation and action supported by the entire world.
Ideally, the problem could be easily solved if the Russians came on board and condemned the slaughter and forced al-Assad out, allowing some sort of negotiations to take place between his present supporters and the rebels. That is unlikely to happen. Obama has been profiled by the vulgar right which includes most of the present Republican party, as an incompetent, leftist who is stupid, indecisive and soft. In doing so, they have been making the same mistake that Democrats used to make with Ronald Reagan during his tenure.
It has been a clear case of underrating the opponent. Any president who is distrusted by a combination of the vulgar left, the vulgar right, Islamist as well as Zionist extremist, is likely to be acting in the interest of his own country and the world. The truth is that it is one of the ways in which Obama is becoming a transformative president, by changing the way in which military decisions are made. The commander-in-chief makes unilateral decisions during a crisis which requires immediate action. This is what the present power of the president to act militarily without Congressional approval was intended to accommodate. But will henceforth require the backing of Congress to go to war.
R Howard Thompson
Mandeville
howardthompson507@yahoo.com
Obama, Syria and profiling
-->