Yes, it appears to be time for war on Syria.
President Barack Obama is in his fourth year of office and has damn little to show for it. The nightmare that is ObamaCare is before the Supreme Court. It may be overturned and it's what he's repeatedly pointed to as an accomplishment. The other thing he can't shut up about, being the Mouser President, is the death of bin Laden.
For those who've forgotten, Barack Obama did not capture bin Laden nor did he kill bin Laden. Barack was in DC watching (or not, depending upon the source) it on closed circuit TV.
But damned if he didn't then and continue to now pretend like he had accomplished something with his own bare, well tended hands.
And where's the glory in that kill? If bin Laden was still a threat (hiding out in Pakistan for over a decade calls that into question), then he had information. Even if he wasn't a threat, he had information. Why wasn't he captured and interrogated? Why wasn't he put on trial?
As Amnesty International noted:
US officials have said that five people were killed and two women were injured – one of whom was identified as bin Laden’s wife – and that at the end of the operation the injured women were left at the compound along with at least six children.
CIA Director Leon Panetta said on 3 May that US forces had full authority to kill Osama bin Laden but that they were to capture him if he had surrendered.
The White House has said that Osama Bin Laden was unarmed but resisted capture.
"Given that he was not armed, it is not clear how he resisted arrest and whether an attempt was made to capture him rather than kill him,” said Claudio Cordone.
"Amnesty International believes that US forces should have attempted to capture Osama bin Laden alive in order to bring him to trial if he was unarmed and posing no immediate threat."
The alleged professor of Constitutional Law showed no respect for the rule of law. He acted like a mafia don, even. And now he thinks this is something to be proud of? And his sycophants act like he did something amazing.
The same way they pretend the unconstitutional Libyan War was actually legal.
With nothing else left, he appears to think the answer to increase his popularity is war. How very Bully Boy Bush of him. Over the last months, the only question has been would Iran or Syria be his Mystery Date?
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABC News today, "We think [Syrian President Bashar al] Assad must go. The sooner the better for everyone concerned. [. . .] There has to be a timeline. It can't go indefinitely. And we're not standing still as you saw coming out of the meeting here in Istanbul."
Clinton spoke of providing assistance -- including "technical" to the so-called Free Syrian Army. This morning David Ignatius spoke with Rachel Martin (NPR's Weekend Edition -- link is text and audio) about this group:
This Free Syrian Army, as it calls itself, really is a pretty motley group and the Syrian opposition has tended to be localized, city by city, not organized in a national fashion. So, if you were going to proceed with ideas for a military solution, the first thing you'd have to do is give these people some training. Where would you do that? Would you pull them out of the country, would you create a zone inside the country where they can be trained? If you did that, you'd have to take out the Syrian air defenses. And then you get into the whole series of complicated questions in the United States about whether we want to get into another war in this part of the world. Clearly, the answer today is no, but the U.S. is being pushed in that direction.
And, as The Institute for the Study of War pointed out, "The emergence of al-Qaeda-linked terrorist cells working against the regime poses risks to the United States and a challenge to those calling for material support of the armed opposition." RT reported in February:
The US spy chief has told the Congress President Bashar Al-Assad is fighting against Al-Qaeda of Iraq. James Clapper is the first top US official to acknowledge US might indirectly support insurgents. Since December there have been Bombings in Damascus and Aleppo that "had all the earmarks of an Al-Qaeda like attack," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. He added that Syrian opposition groups, fighting against the existing regime of President al-Assad may have been infiltrated by Al-Qaida. “However likely without their knowledge”, he said. Clapper said the lack of a unified opposition group could leave a power vacuum that extremists could fill if the Syrian government falls, a potential development he called "troubling."
And now Barack, in a desperate attempt to win re-election, is ready to get in bed with al Qaeda in Iraq.
Illustrations are Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts' "Funding Terrorists" and "The Mouser and Glory Hog."
