Another diastrous war is the last thing we need right now
Paleo-conservative author and former Republican presidential candidate Patrick J Buchanan takes Mitt Romney and his Neo-conservative advisers and bellicose cheerleaders to task in a recent article for promoting the idea of further US intervention in Syria. Buchanan writes:
“In Syria, I will work … to identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values and ensure they obtain the arms they need to defeat Assad’s tanks, helicopters and fighter jets.”
This commitment by Mitt Romney in his VMI address has thrilled the neocons as much as it has unsettled the realists in his camp.
And the reasons for the latter’s alarm are apparent.
Last year, U.S. planes scrambled to defend Benghazi against the “tanks, helicopters and fighter jets” of Col. Gadhafi. Now we are investigating the murders of our ambassador and three Americans in the city we saved.
To bring down helicopters and fighter jets would require U.S. F-16s over Syria or putting surface-to-air missiles in rebel hands. Do we really want to be passing Stingers around a no man’s land where al-Qaida agents could buy up a few to bring down U.S. airliners?
What Romney proposes is an act of war. Before we get into our fourth war in 12 years, let us consider the antagonists.
Meanwhile, in other news, the US continues to kill large numbers of people in Central Asia. The latest US strike took 18 lives. Anyone who happens to be killed in a US drone attack is considered a ‘militant’ and ‘terrorist’ by the US Federal Government, whether they are men, women, little children or elderly. Earlier this week a US strike in the area killed 5 people. It seems that the US Federal Government will not rest until it has made enemies of the entire world.
Buchanan is right.
Sadly, the West may have no choice but to take on the 800 pound gorilla in the room in the form of Iran.
Better the West save itself, for what I fear, is the big showdown…..
TNSDG, I disagree about Iran. I see it as no threat at all but rather as a potentially valuable trading partner. The Chinese and Russians are much smarter on this than is DC.
I hope you are correct and I am wrong.
However “gut instinct”, their track record, and their overall designs for a future Islamic Caliphate seem to point to something a lot more sinister.
Again, I hope you are right and I am wrong.
The Persians haven’t been a threat to The West since Plataea. Get the soldiers home, end the killing.
Today Iran’s proxies (Ex. Hezbollah, Hamas) threaten the West in ways that Persians in years gone by could have never dreamed of doing. Hezbollah’s recent “excursion” into Israeli airspace with drone technology is a perfect example. Like the long arms of an octopus, their tentacles reach deep into Europe and around the globe threatening politicians (Ex. Gert Wilders), killing ambassadors (Ex. Chris Stevens), and threatening to exterminate other nations (ex. Israel).
Prime minister Netanyahu said it best when he stated “It’s like Timothy McVeigh walking into a shop in Oklahoma City and saying, “I’d like to tend my garden. I’d like to buy some fertilizer….Come on. Would you really believe that?”
Again, I hope you are correct in your assessment and I am wrong. However, I am looking at the world with eyes wide open and see a red dawn in the morning….
TNSDG, The tract record of the Iranians is very peaceful. What is the last country they have invaded? They haven’t done so for hundreds of years. The talk of a ‘future Islamic Caliphate’ is Neo-connish rhetoric meant to distract us from real threats and focus our enemies on fighting Israel’s enemies (being that the Neo-con media leaders are pretty much all either Christian-Zionists or Zionist-Jews).
It would take me a while to explain the emergence of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. But suffice it to say that today they become the de facto Lebanese military. They protect the country from Israeli aggression (such as in the recent war where Israel invaded Lebanon). They also provide welfare, schooling and other social services to the people. They have almost replaced the Lebanese state in southern Lebanon because the state is crippled by diversity (the country is divided amongst 3 major religious groups) as it was set up by the French. Hamas has also emerged in a similar fashion after the collaborative Palestinian government became corrupt. I have a great deal of respect for Hezbollah in particular. I would love to see Southern nationalists move in a direction more like them. We could learn lots from them.
Michael,
You know that I respect much of what you do and stand for…
Having said that, on this issue, I think we’ll just have to “agree to disagree”.
Sure, TNSDG. There is plenty of room for disagreement on such things. I try to hold to the principle that Washington laid out in his farewell address of not allowing foreign conflicts to divide us. I think this is a good rule of thumb for Southern nationalists.
Agreed.
I believe you are correct with your rule of thumb (And Washingtons)