Quaking in Their Boots

Nobody’s Quaking in Their Boots, Anymore | The American Conservative:

This story may have some points but the first example given is just wrong and a good example of propaganda invading our national memory.

In this new century, U.S. leaders continue to draw red lines that threaten acts of war that the nation is unprepared to back up.' 

Recall President Obama’s, “Assad must go!” and the warning that any use of chemical weapons would cross his personal “red line. 

Result: After chemical weapons were used, Americans rose in united opposition to a retaliatory strike. Congress refused to authorize any attack. Obama and John Kerry were left with egg all over their faces. And the credibility of the country was commensurately damaged.

That all sounds good but that's not really the full story.

At that time, US neocon's and other war hawks had been hammering Obama about what a red-line in Syria would look like. How far would he let them go before the US would take action? Eventually he said that use of chemical weapons would be that red-line.

Then wham, like clockwork, a chemical weapons attack in Syria! The neocons and hawks all say Syria did it and hammer Obama for some response since they had crossed his declared red-line.

But,... US intelligence couldn't verify that Syria had anything to do with it and there was at least some evidence that it was staged just to draw the US deeper into Syria. [Wiki Link].  Obama opted on the side of caution and didn't take military action in response.

Obama may have made the correct choice, we don't know but neither does Pat Buchanan.  He's just spouting the easily remembered neocon propaganda that "Syria did it and Obama was weak"

Actually, Buchanan probably does know the true story but it doesn't fit his politics so he chose to promote the neocon line.

tnb




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