Your Semi-Official Obama vs. Syria Armageddon Predictions Thread

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“Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader,” by Alex Gray (detail)

We’re supposed to start bombing the crap out of Damascus sometime soon, because President Obama has managed to make this imperative to U.S. credibility, and you know Dear Leader has gotten himself into a bad spot when Alan Colmes goes on Fox News and denounces the president in such strong terms that if any Republican had said it, they’d be the subject of a special alert from Media Matters.

 

Does anybody remember “The War of Monica’s Thong“?

In 1999, a few weeks after the Senate voted to acquit President Clinton for “high crimes and misdemeanors” — of which he was clearly guilty — Clinton suddenly decided that he’d had it up to here with Slobodan Milosevich. So NATO started bombing the crap out of the Serbs.

This was arguably the worst use of U.S. military force since the Spanish-American War, with “genocide” replacing “Remember the Maine” as the battle cry. Of course, the civil war in the former Yugoslavia had been raging for years, Milosevich’s brutality wasn’t exactly a recent development and we were, objectively, fighting in defense of a Muslim insurgency, with the Kosovo Liberation Army as al-Qaeda’s Balkan front. Because the Serbs had traditionally been Russia’s allies, the bombing campaign against Belgrade also had the effect of alienating Russia, which had been a potential ally in the post-Soviet era.

Our involvement was directly contrary to our own national interest, but because Clinton was eager to regain the prestige he had lost in the year-long Lewinsky ordeal, this “humanitarian” intervention was suddenly deemed necessary by the Commander-in-Chief.

Bad wars fought by bad presidents for bad reasons are not exactly a novelty in American history, and the long-term consequences of these spasms of politically motivated militarism are never good. While Clinton was bombing Serbs on behalf of Kosovar Muslims, their terrorist allies were already planning what became 9/11, but good luck getting Alan Colmes to admit that Clinton’s “Wag the Dog” distractions and other errors made America vulnerable to al-Qaeda.

However, Alan Colmes has had the wisdom to condemn the upcoming Syrian intervention in advance, and we should be grateful for that, rather than complaining about past errors.

The Assad regime is a murderous totalitarian nightmare, supported openly by Iran and supported tacitly by Russia and China. However, the Assad regime’s insurgent enemies are Islamic extremists with connections to al-Qaeda, and if these Syrian insurgents aren’t committing genocide, it’s only because they’re too busy trying to overthrow the current genocidal regime. Does any honest person doubt that Assad’s enemies would be as bad as (or worse than) Assad if they were to succeed in overthrowing him? Which is not to say anything in favor of a dictator using nerve gas against civilians, but at least now we know what happened to Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, eh?

Still, enlisting the United States as al-Qaeda’s de facto air force is bad policy, and it will predictably have bad consequences.

The specific consequences may be impossible to predict, but we know for sure the consequences will be bad.

My hunch is that Iran will respond to U.S. attacks on Syria by launching its own attacks against Israel. Probably rocket attacks from Gaza, but maybe also a wave of suicide bombings. Israel will feel the need to retaliate, so I’ll go out on a limb here and bet that the IDF decides it’s finally time to destroy the Iranian nuclear threat.

Remember, our president is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, which means World War III is always a distinct possibility.

Place your bets, gentlemen. My money’s on “Biblical Apocalypse.”

 

104 comments

  1. I dont think there will be any immediate fallout because I don’t think we are going in with any aircraft or troops. I think the “rebels” have a target list, and we will hit the target list with cruise missiles. I think the fallout comes when and if the “rebels” take over the government.

    So standby for a drawn out excursion into the law of unintended consequences, as opposed to any rapid conclusion in the coming days.

  2. Dude, I’m not very optimistic about things but that was flat out depressing. I know you’re dead and everything, but you ought to get out once in a while and enjoy life.

  6. By extension, everyone’s home/property is “Rocky Top” and I hope they’ll have the proper attitude (as did the folks of Rocky Top in the song) and act accordingly. Sometime we must say enough! to the usurpations and encroachment on our sacred rights.

  7. In over the transom:

    Armageddon can’t be all that bad, can it? I mean, we can probably borrow some money from China and just ride it out.
    — C. Matthews, a dirty, guilty white (and guilty) man

  8. Was “The War of Monica’s Thong” before or after the War of Jenkin’s Ear?
    Actually, I remember that war quite well. I have a reinactment group if you’re interested.

  9. Our esteemed host predicted:

    My hunch is that Iran will respond to U.S. attacks on Syria by launching its own attacks against Israel. Probably rocket attacks from Gaza, but maybe also a wave of suicide bombings. Israel will feel the need to retaliate, so I’ll go out on a limb here and bet that the IDF decides it’s finally time to destroy the Iranian nuclear threat.

    Prime Minister Netanyahu would absolutely love that, and I wouldn’t be so terribly disappointed myself. But while the Iranians might be crazy, they aren’t stupid; they won’t touch Israel during this.

    Nor will President Assad strike at Israel; that would be a good way for him to get to be very dead.

  11. If the death toll is to be believed, It was a extremely effective use of nerve agent. I always believed Iraq shipped tons of chem weapons to Syria while the UN couldn’t find a way to remove their own thumbs out of their collective asses. I think the munitions were scattered far and wide and to think the rebels never had a chance to stumble over a cache or three mildly stretches logic. I would like more proof please. What was the delivery system? Tube artillery or unguided rockets would be the norm, but there are far more ways to wield it than the ways I just listed.

  16. Your scenario makes a lot of sense, but the problem is, considering the situation and the players involved, we don’t know what the Hell will happen – and that’s Goddamn scary.

  22. In that part of the world? No offense, but I trust nothing from that region. I’m just too much of a cynic I guess. I can’t even trust my own media to cover the current admin in a truthful fashion. If only we could get blogger boots on the ground in that region with corporate assets. Can you imagine how fast RSM would have jihad declared against him?

  27. This really bothers me. I think the leftards are on the verge of having their eyes opened, if that’s possible. If this doesn’t do it, they must be epoxied then nailed shut.

  30. There were all those persistent rumors that Iraqi chemical weapons had been moved to Syria. Makes you wonder.

  31. I know my name isn’t on the list for your current subdivision. Pentecostals are banned from Purgatory. Only Roman Catholics are allowed there. For me it’s either a through trip or I go up.

  32. Nuke materials certainly were. We had very strong evidence that happened, but was quashed by Bush’s minions – a serious mistake in my book (A friend saw the evidence and the various S-3s had orders from DC to destroy it). Sddam also was able to get a lot of his ChemWar materials out as well. We found substantial Chem stocks and 22 tons of yellow cake even after Saddam’s efforts. The Israelis took care of Syria’s nuke stocks in ’07 in a deep raid into NE Syria.

  34. Thats why we wont risk a battle/carrier group to launch from the SoH. Iran could always claim they thought we were launching on them, seeing how close they are the Assad regime… But yeah, That act would certainly would turn the current situation into a cluster truck that would open a whole new can of creamy goodness.

  36. The Temple is built after the covenant with many is confirmed. Which also requires the man that is called in “The Beast” Book of Revelation. He’s the man of “fierce countenance,” and the “little horn” in Daniel.

    I watch things and that time is getting very, very close.

  37. Heh. I was a Quaker before my trip to stand before the Holy Presence. I swore Purgatory didn’t exist. Funny how it’s His decision where you go, believe in your destination or not …

  38. That is a scary thought. A Bill Clinton whitehouse could manage a simple democrat face saving missile salvo and pretty much guarantee not to hit anything important or piss anyone off to any consequential level. With these geniuses all bets are off.

  39. Up until now, and at this moment, it appears as though our esteemed allies are the ones who have been the hawkish ones with this — and have started to shuffle and look at their feet.
    The worst thing we could do would be to lead the charge here I think — and at this point I’m not sure we will (a two day missile strike on select targets, or even just loud noises that that is what we are going to do, might be a good compromise — it slaps Assad’s hands and sends a message without getting completely embroiled in something). Obama has the perfect political out here: the need for congressional approval. Now, this may lead to some strained relations with our esteemed allies, who may find themselves leading the charge themselves (and I don’t think that’s what they want) but that’s the way it goes sometimes — one of them, France, hasn’t exactly been a stand up player with us anyway.
    No matter what, neither Assad nor the rebels are friends of ours — the only question is how long we let this continue to go on (what’s in it for us?).

  40. If inspectors found a mountain of Iraq’s WMDs in Syria. It would never see the light of day. Can’t afford for Bush to have been right on WMDs in Iraq. That narrative is not to be withdrawn.

  42. RE: the Serbs had traditionally been Russia’s allies

    During WWII, the Russian backed Tito and his Croatians, enough and Bosnian Muslims supported Germany to form a Waffen-SS division while the Serbs risked themselves by rescuing our downed airmen.

    Of course given the choice between all these bad actors, we allied ourselves with the Albanian, Bosnians and Croats against Serbia.

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