US backs down from Syria

Obama's Provocative Syria Retreat   "In the eyes of the only people who really  matter - Bashir Assad, Vlad Putin, Ayatolla Khameni, Kim Jong Un, and assorted lesser examples of ruthless heads of state, not to mention terror groups - Barrack Obama has retreated from his redline. He has blinked and they think they have his number." 

Via Drudge;
Syria crisis: Obama turns decision on military action over to Congress  "Mr Obama made clear that he had the authority to order a strike in response to the Assad regime using chemical weapons against civilians, and stands ready to do so at any time. But announcing a delay that stunned many, he pledged: “I will seek authorization(sp) for the use of force from the American people’s representatives in Congress. We should have this debate because the issues are too big for business as usual.' ”

In Syria, Anger and Mockery as Obama Delays Plan  “Dictatorships like Iran and North Korea are watching closely to see how the free world responds to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people,” the opposition coalition said in a statement issued in Istanbul.

"Still, some rebel leaders were angry. A member of Syria’s opposition National Coalition, Samir Nachar, called Mr. Obama a “weak president who cannot make the right decision when it comes to such an urgent crisis.' ”

 

 Analysis: Putin sees chance to turn tables on Obama at G20  "The U.S. president's dilemma over a military response to an alleged poison gas attack in Syria means Obama is the one who is under more pressure going into a G20 summit in St Petersburg on Thursday and Friday."

 The mask is off: They hated Bush, not war

Ultimately, the study suggests, the anti-war rallies of 2003 weren't just about Iraq -- they were also a way to register disapproval with the Bush administration. Now, even with most Americans wary of military intervention in Syria, the Democrats who marched a decade ago are mostly staying home."

Analysis: Obama's credibility on line in reversal  "For more than a week, the White House had been barreling toward imminent military action against Syria. But President Barack Obama’s abrupt decision to instead ask Congress for permission left him with a high-risk gamble that could devastate his credibility if no action is ultimately taken in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack that crossed his own ‘‘red line.' ’’

Alan Caruba; The Incredible Shrinking President

Warning Signs

...."This is a President who could not put together a coalition of nations to support his proposed action. His predecessor (“It’s all Bush’s fault”) had some forty nations on board for his attack on Iraq. Obama could not get a United Nations’ resolution. His predecessor had some sixteen UN resolutions. He has been told that Congress would have to authorize covering the cost of the action and of replacing the missiles because his administration has cut the Defense Department budget to the bone."

Regulating our way to Mediocrity

Robert Schapiro   "I have baked bread at home my whole life.

"Because I love baking and eating, my bread is very good. So it was no surprise an entrepreneur opening a year round trendy indoor market in New York asked me to take a stall and sell my bread to the public once a week.

"Why not? I thought. It seemed like the adult version of a kid's lemonade stand.
But that was before the realities of making anything edible for sale came crashing down on my head.

Modern government regulations
Once upon a time, on a farm in Arkansas . . .
. . . there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she
uncovered quite a few grains of wheat. She called all of her neighbors together
and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me
plant it?"
"Not I," said the cow. "Not I," said the duck. Not I," said the pig. "Not I," said the goose.
"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen. And so she did; The
wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain. "Who will help me reap my
wheat?" asked the little red hen.
"Not I," said the duck.
"Out of my classification," said the pig.
"I'd lose my seniority," said the cow.
"I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the goose.
"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen, and so she did. At
last it came time to bake the bread. "Who will help me bake the bread?" asked
the little red hen.
"That would be overtime for me," said the cow.
"I'd lose my welfare benefits," said the duck.
"I'm a dropout and never learned how," said the pig.
"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the goose.
"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen.
She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They
wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, "No,
I shall eat all five loaves."
"Excess profits!" cried the cow.
"Capitalist leech!" screamed the duck.
"I demand equal rights!" yelled the goose.
The pig just grunted in disdain.
And they all painted "Unfair!" picket signs and marched around and around the
little red hen, shouting obscenities. When the government agent came, he said to
the little red hen, "You must not be so greedy."
"But I earned the bread," said the little red hen.
"Exactly," said the agent. "That is what makes our free enterprise system so
wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our
modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of
their labor with those who are lazy and idle."

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who
smiled and clucked, "I am grateful, for now I truly understand." But her
neighbors became quite disappointed in her, for she never again baked any more bread.       

U.S. needed Iraqi foothold that prez abandoned

Boston Herald  ...." Now imagine the world today — the exploding Egypt, sarin-gas Syria, bombs-in-Benghazi world — if Obama had treated Iraq the way America treated Germany, Japan and Korea. Imagine the Middle East with a fully functioning U.S. military base on the border of Iran and Syria, able to project power right on Bashar Assad and the ayatollahs’ doorsteps.

"Alas, we can only imagine …
"Syria, as bad as it is, isn’t even close to the greatest foreign policy failure of the Obama administration. It’s a symptom of Obama’s abandonment of the region. And the high (low?) point of that policy was Obama’s decision to abandon the moderate, pro-Western citizens of Iraq to the extremists."
 

Soldiers of Allah, Not America

How many more Nidal Hasans are in our military ranks?

Michelle Malkin "A military jury sentenced unrepentant Fort Hood jihadist Nidal Hasan to death on Wednesday. But if another murderous Muslim soldier’s case is any indication, Hasan may be sitting in the catbird seat for years to come. And our men and women in uniform will remain endangered by Islamic vigilantes in their own ranks.
"Remember Sergeant Hasan Akbar? On March 23, 2003, this hate-filled soldier with the 326th Engineer Battalion lobbed stolen hand grenades and shot his M-4 automatic rifle into three tents filled with sleeping commanding officers at the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade operations center in Kuwait."....

....
"Political correctness is an American soldier of Allah’s best friend."
 

Priorities in life

buzzfeed.com

‘AMATEUR HOUR’: Krauthammer slams Obama’s sudden decision to delay Syria strike (UPDATED)

Daily Caller
"Immediately following his statement from the Rose Garden on Saturday, which President Barack Obama said he would delay a strike on Syria until seeking authorization from Congress, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer took to Fox News to slam the president.
"Krauthammer criticized Obama for the way he has handled the unfolding of events surrounding the crisis in Syria.
“' [T]he most astonishing thing is the lack of any urgency,” Krauthammer said. “As you say, Congress will be back in a week. He says, ‘I can strike in a day or a week or a month,’ as if he is a judge handing down a sentence and the execution can be any time in the future. There is a war going on. Do you think everybody is going to hold their breath, hold their arms, step aside until Obama decides when he wants to go to Congress?".... 

UPDATE: Obama seeking political cover by asking for a Congressional vote on Syria intervention   "Syria is already crowing about a victory, and it must be admitted that Obama has lost face throughout the Middle East and the world. As has the United States of America, so long as he occupies the Oval Office. The influence, especially the deterrence the United States is able to exercise has been diminished. Obama's ill-considered red line has already cost the United States dearly.".. 

2 Million Bikers to DC

'Million Muslim March' tries Hijack of '2 Million Bikers to DC' Rally
"While the "Million Muslim March on DC" has fueled a wide range of US reactions, major event organizers for a rival US protest group were treated to a rather remarkable episode of infiltrative subterfuge from both the Million Muslim March group and its stealthy media disciples behind the scenes."
....
"[Belinda] Bee may be right, in fact, as she points to the Muslim practice of "Taqiyya", which in shi'ia Islam means to subvert or hide the truth in order to further the aims of Islam."

Please share this information. We must outshine the Muslims!!

 

Jordan – Our Next Ally Sold Out?

Rabid Republican Blog 

"By now most thinking people understand Obama’s game. He’s squarely on the side of [or in the midst of] the Muslim Brotherhood.  One-by-one the countries of the Middle East are being taken down,  essentially handed over intact – to the MB.

"Israel – “the illegal occupiers” – is slowly being surrounded. Jordan is needed for this conquest,  and Abdullah will not go along.  Watch the news America – and observe how it plays out."

Still wearing that Hannah Montana swag?

Reading list on Obama's Syrian conundrum

Syria Red Line  ...."Anyway, It looks like Assad has jumped the Red Line. Now we have to respond or lose credibility and, according to the polls, the American people have no stomach for another war."

 

Commentary Mag; About That Special Relationship  "Some are fretting about whether the special relationship that has bound the United States and the United Kingdom since World War II has been damaged by the House of Common’s vote against British participation in Syria and Prime Minister’s David Cameron’s decision to accept the Commons’ verdict. The New York Times’ Roger Cohen, who has been writing from the UK for some time now, says in his column today that “Britain’s decision not to stand with the United States, its closest ally, in possible military action to punish the Syrian regime for a deadly chemical weapons attack marks a watershed moment that leaves the ‘special relationship’ in search of meaning and Britain in search of its role in the world.”
Obama should have kept that bust of Winston Churchill.

Caroline Glick; Obama's bread and circuses  ...."The most important of those questions are: What US interests are at stake in Syria? How should the US go about advancing them? What does Syria's use of chemical weapons means for the US's position in the region? How would the planned US military action in Syria impact US deterrent strength, national interests and credibility regionally and worldwide? Syria is not an easy case. Thirty months into the war there, it is clear that the good guys, such as they are, are not in a position to win."

Jennifer Rubin; 10 things you need to know about Kerry’s remarks
"Secretary of State John Kerry just delivered a compelling case for military action against
Iraq Syria. Here is what you need to know:"....
Reason number eight was my personal favorite:

On a personal level this is tremendous vindication for the Bush administration and those who were vilified. It turns out unilateral action based on a combination of humanitarian and strategic based on intelligence about WMD use is justified. That said, the difference may be that George W Bush did something about it and Kerry’s boss, who won’t come out of the witness-protection program, isn’t likely to remove Bashar al-Assad in the way Bush took out Sadaam Hussein.

From Germany; Humanitarian Aid Is Possible

"It is most unfortunate that Obama has pushed himself into a corner with his talk of a “red line.” Getting himself out of this situation will come with heavy consequences: He will be publicly portrayed as a toothless tiger."

 

Assad may hit back at Israel for US strike, trusting Obama to tie Israel’s hands against major reprisal 

 “Anything that happens in this area is in Israel’s interest. Such aggression will first of all benefit Israel, secondly, the military efforts of Al Nusra, al Qaeda’s armed group in Syria. “So the Americans would be serving Israel first and Al Qaeda second.”

Mark Steyn; Perfunctory and ineffectual war-making in Syria is worse than nothing.
I see the Obama “reset” is going so swimmingly that the president is now threatening to go to war against a dictator who gassed his own people. Don’t worry, this isn’t anything like the dictator who gassed his own people that the discredited warmonger Bush spent 2002 and early 2003 staggering ever more punchily around the country inveighing against. The 2003 dictator who gassed his own people was the leader of the Baath Party of Iraq. The 2013 dictator who gassed his own people is the leader of the Baath Party of Syria. Whole other ball of wax.

Shamed into War

Charles Krauthammer

 If Obama is going to strike Syria, he should do it constitutionally and with purpose.

"Having leaked to the world, and thus to Syrian president Bashar Assad, a detailed briefing of the coming U.S. air attack on Syria — (1) the source (offshore warships and perhaps a bomber or two), (2) the weapon (cruise missiles), (3) the duration (two or three days), (4) the purpose (punishment, not “regime change”) — perhaps we should be publishing the exact time the bombs will fall, lest we disrupt dinner in Damascus.

"So much for the element of surprise. Into his third year of dithering, two years after declaring Assad had to go, one year after drawing — then erasing — his own red line on chemical weapons, Barack Obama has been stirred to action." 

The Pros and Cons of Attacking Syria  "PJ Media's columnists weigh in on intervening in Syria as the Obama administration decides how to respond to the use of chemical weapons. Updated: Michael Ledeen, Victor Davis Hanson and Roger Kimball provide their analyses."

It’s pointless to take potshots at Obama for failing to act on Syria. What we should say is this: “Iran is the main source of instability in the Middle East. Iran’s intervention in Syria has turned the country into a slaughterhouse. By showing weakness to Iran, the Obama administration encourages its murderous activities elsewhere in the region.”