Syria And The "Red Line"

Let me just say right up front that President Obama and the rest of the administration made a diplomatic blunder by saying what would be a “red line”. Now the President has to do something and a great many people, both in the United States and overseas seem to believe we must act militarily. For a President who seems more comfortable leading from the rear, he has caused himself quite the problem.

First of all, what to we expect to gain from any type of military strike? Will we gain the good will of the rebels? Not likely. They have pieced together in various rebel forces any number of bad actors, the majority of whom already either hate the U.S. or have already fought against our forces in Afghanistan or Iraq. No future friends among that crowd. And what about the subsequent collateral damage to innocent bystanders when our missiles slam into a building or a bomb shreds a home next to a suspected arms cache? Then we will have ample news coverage of sheet-draped bodies of someone’s brother, sister, or child being carried for burial and the accompanying demand for justice or retribution for the killing. Since targeting suspected weapons sites is both risky and difficult, should we just go ahead and send in combat troops to ferret the targets out? Another bad idea as any ground troops would be fighting both regime loyalists and some of the rebel forces that are replete with jihadists and other thugs.  And what if the al Assad regime actually loses power due to the American onslaught?  Who waits in the wings to assume power? It will not be some pro-western moderate that the administration continues to believe actually exists in the region. No, it will be another Islamic hard-liner who wants to establish a twelfth-century ideology complete with mullahs and fatwa’s waiting to be issued against Christian and Jews.

I also doubt Russia and China will sign off on any UN intervention so the U.S. and a few European countries will have to shoulder any military action. Also, Syria and the al Assad regime have received weaponry and training from Russia. I doubt Putin will let any U.S. action occur without demanding some type of payoff from Obama for Russian acquiescence. The U.S. has nothing to gain from intervention in Syria and a lot more can be lost when Obama and Secretary of State Kerry have to deal with Putin to cover all of their red-line bluster on this. Maybe he can ask John McCain to talk with Putin in Moscow. McCain appears to enjoy traveling.