As President Obama weighs the decision on how to react to the use of WMD in Syria, I wanted to paint a bigger picture for perspective.
Muslim nations are going through a transformation before our eyes...
We face an enemy willing to use civilian planes as bombs, to take the lives of thousands of innocents for their stated cause, which is the elimination of boarders and a Muslim caliphate with Muslim rule. The counter to that desire for rule over the Middle East is the Shia Muslim rule in Iran and Syria who do not want to see Suni Muslims consolidate their power structure against them.
The Bush administration made an assessment that Saddam Hussein was too much of a threat. He had used WMD against his own people, awarded families of suicide bombers in the Palestinian territory after 9.11, and he kicked out UN inspectors looking for WMD.
After going to congress for support from the likes of John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, the United States moved to topple the regime in Iraq with the support of dozens of allies.
The assessment was made by the Bush administration that bringing democracy and freedom to the Muslim world was the only way to combat the spread of Muslim Extremism.
Democrats chose to pull back from their decision to support the war, stating that the war was lost and it was time to leave. President Obama won election in large part because of his NO vote for the war, appearing to be a more consistent opponent of war than Hillary Clinton in 2008.
The Iraqi people were seen voting and now face the challenges of self governance, regardless of your opinion of its success or purpose.
I believe the removal of this dictatorship in Iraq sparked new hopes in people across the Muslim world for freedom. Of course, it also emboldened the extremists and those who thirst for power and control.
There was fear of popular uprisings in palaces across the region. Oppressive power structures saw popular uprisings from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria and Iranian regimes as the Obama administration took office.
When the Iranians revolted in Obama's first term, the Obama administration decided nuclear "negotiations" with Iran were too fragile to speak up with any passion in support of the uprising or against the violent crack down.
The Obama administration then supported the overthrow of the Egyptian dictator, and committed American military assets to the overthrow of the Libyan dictator as Gadafi moved to put down the uprising there.
I believe the Iranian/Syrian regimes were emboldened by the move NOT to support the uprisings in their countries by the United States.
The uprising in Syria was met by the strongest resistance of any dictator in the region. Supported militarily by Iran, Assad and his troops used excessive force to put down the resistance, including the use of WMD to the best of our knowledge. President Obama decided to stay away during the election season...
Today over 100,000 people have died in what developed into a civil war. Assad has nearly crushed the resistance though by now, and what remains appears to be Muslim fighters from other countries who flooded Syria as they did in the Iraq war against us.
So today we have President Obama who decided to "draw a red line" for Syria during his reelection campaign. He said the use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer" and that HE would take action in that event... It appears that event has happened.
What do we face?
Syria has nearly put down the resistance after 30 months of conflict. Iran has crushed any inspiration for freedom from its people, and improved military ties with Syria. Putin in Russia has laughed off the "re-start button" offered by Hillary Clinton, and proven to be our adversary once more as it allies itself with authoritarian regimes.
At home we are an incredibly divided nation. Although Obama's campaign in 08' was based on the promise of unity and leadership, we later found out that meant unity only with those who agree with him.
The United States is near another raising of its debt limit, that has exploded under Democrat and Republican spending. Military action in Syria is not in our budget, which means it would therefore be added onto our out of control debt.
Democrat talking heads would look to distract the un-informed with the fact that Iraq was also not in the budget, and it would be hypocritical of Republicans who now say we should not enter conflict with Syria at this point. But... would it not be prudent to say we learned lessons in our invasion of Iraq?
A strike on Syria is now a strike on Iran. Our ally and only democracy in the Middle East Israel would be their first retaliation as well as soft targets within the US through the terrorist arm of Iran... Hezbollah.
Do we want war with Iran and Syria now?
We have a military force exhausted by long deployments and the mental stresses of war. The potential for world powers Russia (and China) to get involved in a greater war. Our allies in Europe are broke, weakened by the chains of socialist policies for decades.
As you consider that question, it is clear that we need leadership now more than ever.
In my opinion, that leadership has been lacking as a result of Democratic leadership and Barack Obama, a corrupted media structure, and too many "low-information" voters in the west.
We see a divide among nations on this planet, and that divide used to be clearer. Our president, in my opinion, is attempting to change the definition of freedom.
What was once known as freedom of equal opportunity to succeed, has been countered with the belief in equal outcomes... "fairness" as the left describes it.
Such a confusion in the definition of American freedom has made it impossible for President Obama to lead the "free world", and is stunting the individual growth of a generation as it did in Europe.
We can't ignore the use of chemical weapons on civilians, but we have ignored slaughter of innocent people across Africa for a century now.
People need to understand what we face, and sending John Kerry out to do it on a Friday before Labor Day weekend in the US is just not that leadership.
The President is now looking to not appear weak, by doing nothing after his so called "red line" was crossed ( possibly a catastrophic mis-step in decision making).
His hypocrisy on war is incredible, but I don't care to look back at a politicians words now.
The country needs to be united... restrengthened by the commonality of a free people and the freedom of opportunity through hard work and free market behavior. Meanwhile re-assessing our relationship with the world we face as a free society in an ocean of tyranny.
Our new focus on race, rather than family... fairness rather than hard work and individual responsibility needs to be stopped. We know what works, and its time to admit it, promote it and build it at home. Going to war with Syria and Iran right now is counter to that goal.
Let's hope our leaders get that.
Muslim nations are going through a transformation before our eyes...
We face an enemy willing to use civilian planes as bombs, to take the lives of thousands of innocents for their stated cause, which is the elimination of boarders and a Muslim caliphate with Muslim rule. The counter to that desire for rule over the Middle East is the Shia Muslim rule in Iran and Syria who do not want to see Suni Muslims consolidate their power structure against them.
The Bush administration made an assessment that Saddam Hussein was too much of a threat. He had used WMD against his own people, awarded families of suicide bombers in the Palestinian territory after 9.11, and he kicked out UN inspectors looking for WMD.
After going to congress for support from the likes of John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, the United States moved to topple the regime in Iraq with the support of dozens of allies.
The assessment was made by the Bush administration that bringing democracy and freedom to the Muslim world was the only way to combat the spread of Muslim Extremism.
Democrats chose to pull back from their decision to support the war, stating that the war was lost and it was time to leave. President Obama won election in large part because of his NO vote for the war, appearing to be a more consistent opponent of war than Hillary Clinton in 2008.
The Iraqi people were seen voting and now face the challenges of self governance, regardless of your opinion of its success or purpose.
I believe the removal of this dictatorship in Iraq sparked new hopes in people across the Muslim world for freedom. Of course, it also emboldened the extremists and those who thirst for power and control.
There was fear of popular uprisings in palaces across the region. Oppressive power structures saw popular uprisings from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria and Iranian regimes as the Obama administration took office.
When the Iranians revolted in Obama's first term, the Obama administration decided nuclear "negotiations" with Iran were too fragile to speak up with any passion in support of the uprising or against the violent crack down.
The Obama administration then supported the overthrow of the Egyptian dictator, and committed American military assets to the overthrow of the Libyan dictator as Gadafi moved to put down the uprising there.
I believe the Iranian/Syrian regimes were emboldened by the move NOT to support the uprisings in their countries by the United States.
The uprising in Syria was met by the strongest resistance of any dictator in the region. Supported militarily by Iran, Assad and his troops used excessive force to put down the resistance, including the use of WMD to the best of our knowledge. President Obama decided to stay away during the election season...
Today over 100,000 people have died in what developed into a civil war. Assad has nearly crushed the resistance though by now, and what remains appears to be Muslim fighters from other countries who flooded Syria as they did in the Iraq war against us.
So today we have President Obama who decided to "draw a red line" for Syria during his reelection campaign. He said the use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer" and that HE would take action in that event... It appears that event has happened.
What do we face?
Syria has nearly put down the resistance after 30 months of conflict. Iran has crushed any inspiration for freedom from its people, and improved military ties with Syria. Putin in Russia has laughed off the "re-start button" offered by Hillary Clinton, and proven to be our adversary once more as it allies itself with authoritarian regimes.
At home we are an incredibly divided nation. Although Obama's campaign in 08' was based on the promise of unity and leadership, we later found out that meant unity only with those who agree with him.
The United States is near another raising of its debt limit, that has exploded under Democrat and Republican spending. Military action in Syria is not in our budget, which means it would therefore be added onto our out of control debt.
Democrat talking heads would look to distract the un-informed with the fact that Iraq was also not in the budget, and it would be hypocritical of Republicans who now say we should not enter conflict with Syria at this point. But... would it not be prudent to say we learned lessons in our invasion of Iraq?
A strike on Syria is now a strike on Iran. Our ally and only democracy in the Middle East Israel would be their first retaliation as well as soft targets within the US through the terrorist arm of Iran... Hezbollah.
Do we want war with Iran and Syria now?
We have a military force exhausted by long deployments and the mental stresses of war. The potential for world powers Russia (and China) to get involved in a greater war. Our allies in Europe are broke, weakened by the chains of socialist policies for decades.
As you consider that question, it is clear that we need leadership now more than ever.
In my opinion, that leadership has been lacking as a result of Democratic leadership and Barack Obama, a corrupted media structure, and too many "low-information" voters in the west.
We see a divide among nations on this planet, and that divide used to be clearer. Our president, in my opinion, is attempting to change the definition of freedom.
What was once known as freedom of equal opportunity to succeed, has been countered with the belief in equal outcomes... "fairness" as the left describes it.Such a confusion in the definition of American freedom has made it impossible for President Obama to lead the "free world", and is stunting the individual growth of a generation as it did in Europe.
We can't ignore the use of chemical weapons on civilians, but we have ignored slaughter of innocent people across Africa for a century now.
People need to understand what we face, and sending John Kerry out to do it on a Friday before Labor Day weekend in the US is just not that leadership.
The President is now looking to not appear weak, by doing nothing after his so called "red line" was crossed ( possibly a catastrophic mis-step in decision making).
His hypocrisy on war is incredible, but I don't care to look back at a politicians words now.
The country needs to be united... restrengthened by the commonality of a free people and the freedom of opportunity through hard work and free market behavior. Meanwhile re-assessing our relationship with the world we face as a free society in an ocean of tyranny.
Our new focus on race, rather than family... fairness rather than hard work and individual responsibility needs to be stopped. We know what works, and its time to admit it, promote it and build it at home. Going to war with Syria and Iran right now is counter to that goal.
Let's hope our leaders get that.
