And the was pretty much all anyone ever got.
The US attacked Syria -- the way so many fear Iran will be attacked -- and there was no huge protest, there wasn't even a desire to make it an issue to discuss. Neither the Republican presidential candidate John McCain or the Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama felt the need to call out the attack.
And with no one calling it out, there was no pressure on the head of an alleged democracy to explain to the American people what happened. Instead of hearing from the administration, the public was served up whispers and gossip, unsourced.
It was treated as though it were no problem, this despite realities and the fall out. Realities?
Martin Sieff (UPI) reminds, "Cross-border attacks in any conflict carry the risk of widening it uncontrollably. That is especially the case here, since Syria is the main Middle East ally of Iran, and tensions between the United States and Iran remain high over Tehran's drive to acquire long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. And the risks of escalation are far greater when ground troops are involved in the incident, not just airstrikes." Fall out? The treaty masquerading as a SOFA that the US wants so badly with Iraq became even more iffy as the puppet government in Baghdad had to call out the attack, publicly pledge to their neighbors that Iraq would not be allowed to be used as a staging ground for US attacks and as they had to announce that they were launching an investigation (and that they would share the results with Syria). And that's just noting the fall out for Iraq.
Monday morning, White House spokesperson Dana Perino refused to comment on the attack.
*"The United States government has not commented on reports about that and I'm not able to here either."
*"I can't comment on it at all, no."
*"I'm not going to comment in any way on this; I'm not able to comment on that."
*"I'm not going to comment on the reports about this, no, I'm not. Anybody else?"
*"I'm not going to comment on it at all. This could be a really short briefing."
*"I don't know. I don't know."
*"Jim, all I can tell you is that I am not able to comment on reports about this reported incident and I'm not going to do so. You can come up here and try to beat it out of me, but I will not be commenting on this in any way, shape or form today."
*"I don't believe anybody is commenting on this at all."
*"To give you an answer to that would be commenting in some way on it and I'm not going to it."
*"Nothing."
"*I understand the reports are serious but it's not something I'm going to comment on in any way."
The White House wasn't saying a word but Syria was very clear, via their Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, that they saw the attack as "criminal and terrorist aggression." That judgment was not limited to Syria. Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim (Babylon & Beyond, Los Angeles Times) reported, "The pro-U.S. faction within the Lebanese government condemned the U.S. move. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora accused the U.S., which funds his military, of an 'unacceptable' violation of Syrian sovereignty. 'Any military attack against an Arab country or on a small country by a larger country is an act we reject,' said a statement issued by his office." And Monday also brought the news that fall out included calling off an announced press conference featuring the Syrian and UK foreign ministers. Tuesday, Hurriyet explained, "The weekend U.S. raid into Syrian territory will hamper Turkey's efforts to create a more stable Middle East through mediating between rival Israel and Syria, according to experts." Hurriyet maintains Turkey had no advance knowledge of the attack on Syria and notes, "Turkey has so far hosted four rounds of indirect talks between Israel and Syria with the aim of bringing the bitter enemies together for direct talks. The fifth round, originally scheduled for Septemeber, was postponed after former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned amid corruption claims. . . . Washington has remained silent on the Olmert-led Israeli government's initiative to engage in indirect talks with Syria under Turkish auspices."
Tuesday at the US State Dept, there was no comment on the attack but Robert A. Wood wanted the press to know that he had nothing in writing about Syria closing a an American school and cultural center in Syria: "I've seen, actually heard about the reports but we have not been officially notified by the Syrian government. So until we do, I don't have much further to say on it."
The next day, Sean McCormack would use the US State Dept press briefing to nah-nah-nah the fact that the US school and cultural center remained open but he would clam up when asked if the US Embassy in Syria was shutting down or if there were protests scheduled outside of it. He had no answers -- this despite Dana Perino steering reporters to the State Dept for answers to those exact questions.
The questions were answered by the US Embassy in Syria and, to date, the Embassy is the only US governmental outlet that has made any sort of official statement regarding last week's developments in Syria and that was one sentence.
And not only was it closed Thursday, it was also closed Friday although Robert Wood would state that the Friday closing was due to "a holiday."
While voices in the US remained largely silent, some voices did speak out. Farrah Hassen (Asia Times) reminded that 8 Syrians died ("including a farmer, three children, and a fisherman") and that while "numerous questions" continue, no answers are provided. Hassen notes, "By violating Syrian airspace and apparently not consulting the Syrians about its supposed intelligence on Abu Ghadiya ahead of the attack, the Bush adminsitration has confirmed, yet again, its disdain for international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter." Mohammad Akef Jamal (Gulf News) observed that an agreement allowing cross borders raids is one thing but, "Breaking into the borders of any country without a similar agreement is considered a hostile act and a violation of this country's sovereignty, besides being a breach of international laws. This attack raised many questions about its targets and content. First, the US never carried such attacks when the Syrian-Iraqi borders were almost open and Syria was accused of allowing hundreds of militants to infiltrate into Iraq to carry out vandalism operations. However, the situation has changed lately as these accusations decreased and Syria was no longer the country that allows militants into Iraq. Syria has also taken steps to mend its relations with Lebanon and France, which should bring it closer to the US, not the opposite."
Those issues were avoided and the administration was allowed to go through a full week without answering to the people. Want to keep pretending we have an opposition party?
Want to keep pretending we have a healthy and viabrant democracy? Or even a functioning one?