Stuck on Syria

As deaths pile up, do Americans care?

The problem with Syria, as with everything else in the Middle East, is that America will be damned if we  do intervene in the Syrian civil war and damned if we don't.

It's a classic no-win situation.

Similarly, right-wingnuts and neo-cons routinely rip President Obama for being a "dictator."

These same fools are now apoplectic that the president has asked Congress for approval to at least bomb Syria from distant ships.

If our bombing leads to the overthrow of Syria's Assad, the rebels will rejoice and then either attack the U.S. or Israel.

If Assad survives and crushes the rebellion, he will rejoice and then attack either Israel or the U.S.

And, if Congress votes against any action, despite what the U.N. report says on the use of chemical weapons in Syria, Iran will feel free to develop a nuclear bomb and threaten Israel and the U.S.

Should President Obama go ahead and authorize the long-distance bombing of Syria, the Republicans will then trot out their impeachment gambit. (Hardline GOPers would rather see children die in gas attacks then see Obama succeed.)

Again, the worst kind of a lose-lose-lose-lose proposition.

Of course, it would be easy to blame all this on George W. Bush for invading Iraq for a totally bogus reason. No wonder no one in the world would believe any U.S. president when he makes another claim of weapons of mass destruction against a Middle East dictator.

But, the truth is, the problems in the Middle East will never be solved by this country or Russia or France or Britain.

Or anyone.

Arabs are united in one thing: their hatred for the state of Israel.

Israelis are mostly united in fearing all Arab nations, be they dictatorships or monarchies; or Sunni or Shia.

Nothing we do in this country will ever change these dynamics.

The only thing we can try to do is prevent Middle East Islamic countries from developing and using weapons of mass destruction.

But, if history is any guide, that effort will fail.

The only thing we can do is wait.

Wait for a clear attack against either the U.S. or Israel before engaging in any conflict there.

Cable/TV news stations won't like this, because they like war. It's good for ratings. (Only when Iraq and Afghanistan coverage failed to sustain any kind of ratings, did cable/TV news outlets question the wisdom of continuing those conflicts)

The right-wingnuts and neo-cons will both love and hate waiting. They love to project American power, particularly in defense of Israel, through war. Waiting also give these folks much more time to attack President Obama.

These nutcases will hate the fact that most Americans will be glad that President Obama waits.

He is a leader. His critics are not.