Between Iraq and a Hard Place, or Syria's Moonlight

I am not really happy about doing another blog post; I thought I was finished with this. I was spending way too much time dealing with other people's expectations, and I thought that the best way to deal with other people's expectations was to not deal with other people's expectations. In a way, my attitude was much the same as what half of the American people seem to want of their government right now. So when I was asked directly how I felt about Obama and Syria, I was forced to confront said feelings in a way that defied posting in a meme. But I chose not to post that, and instead to simply answer the question asked.

I am not sure that what Obama is doing in Syria is right...the problem is, I'm not entirely sure it's wrong, either.

When nations behave in such a way that can only be called extremely reprehensible, is it the responsibility of other nations--all of them--to hold the offending nation responsible for their actions? And if other nations surrender this responsibility, does that relieve us (or any nation) of the responsibility to act? Do either of these points even apply here?

My problem is that I am not sure, and I cannot be more sure ahead of the UN Weapons Inspectors' report on the situation in Syria. Which could take weeks yet, by which time any punitive action on our part will lose the name of action. The Syrian government (or their military) may have, quite literally, gotten away with murder.

And it's not proper to say "we don't want to do this because we're tired of war" because Syria is unlikely to change their behavior just because we're tired of intervening in Middle Eastern conflicts. Nor is it proper for us to say "it is not our place to police the world" because it is the world's place to police the world, the world that we are part of, and our responsibility to do so does not diminish just because no one else is prepared to step up to the plate. 

Two questions simultaneously confront us: "Should we intervene?" and "How can we not?" You can't answer one without confronting the other, and frankly I am not sure how to answer either of them.

Obama is definitely between a rock and a hard place, but he wanted the job and he's going to have to live with the responsibilities. In his place, I cannot honestly say what I would do.

I vividly remember when we, as a nation, were led down the garden path by Bush II et al, into a war that had no true purpose, no clear goals beyond replacing a couple of unfriendly governments. That hasn't worked out so well. In the current case, I am at least encouraged by Obama's promises that our involvement will be limited, that our  ultimate goal is not one of regime change...but I am fearfully aware that history does not favor having him adhere rigidly to these self-imposed standards. That's the history of the office of President, by the way, not just Barack Obama.

It comes down to this: The People (that's all of us, by the way) elected Obama to use his judgment, and whether you agree with that judgment or not, whether you voted for him or not, we the people can do little more than hope that his judgment is sound. Regrettably, that is going to mean waiting for the judgment of history. And it is the nature of history that its judgment always comes after the fact, when it's too late to effect the outcome of anyone's actions.

Frankly, I am afraid. I am afraid that the US will be dragged into another war in the Middle East. I am afraid of undefined goals and dubious intelligence and of the Government acting on its own behalf and trying to fit their explanations to the facts later. In short, I am afraid of all the bullshit that GWB left us with. I can only hope that Barack Obama, while he looks more like George W. Bush every day, is still far enough from being GWB that he won't drag us all into the same sort of Middle Eastern perdition.

The Blues Viking

These thoughts are mine. Get your own.

A final word about blogging: I am no longer enthusiastic about it. I object to the fact that people were expecting me to perform, like some guy who cranks out awful, repetitive music while his trained monkey amuses the audience. If I wanted to be that guy, I'd have learned the accordion. Ohwaitaminute...