President Obama was talking tough on Monday when he said that he would consider using force in Syria if Bashar Assad uses chemical weapons against his own people. That’s a good marker to lay down, but the way the president phrased the threat he implicitly gave the Assad regime permission to commit any atrocities short of using chemical weapons safe in the knowledge that the U.S. will do nothing to stop the slaughter.
The hollowness of Obama’s policy has been further exposed in this Washington Post article which quotes Syrian opposition officials complaining that they have not gotten the influx of communications gear promised to them by the president. The provision of computers, laptops, radios, etc., has been the administration’s response to demands that the U.S. provide weapons and other supplies to help overthrow Assad. Turns out our help has been mainly rhetorical so far. The Post reveals: “U.S. officials and Syrian nationals involved in the program said that it is slated to expand in the coming months but that fewer than two dozen laptop computers and satellite modem kits had been distributed so far.”
How pathetic. Tens of thousands of Syrians are dying at the hands of an avowedly anti-American, pro-Iranian regime–and the U.S. can do nothing more to help the suffering people of Syria than to send 24 laptops and modems? Unless the U.S. steps forward to do more, the people of Syria will long remember our betrayal of them in their hour of need–and long after Assad is gone we will pay a price in lost standing in this important Middle Eastern nation.
Obama may be doing it for the wrong reasons, but I think he's right to keep support on the "rhetorical" level, slow walk any more concrete support, and see how events develop. Notwithstanding Assad's wickedness, his ties to Iran, etc., I can easily imagine a lot worse in the many guises of Sunni Islamism.
Watch out Assad, you brute! The heckler-in-chief is going to move down to the front row of the grandstands. He might even be accompanied by Hillary, and she can be counted upon to issue some harsh words. In a fit of displeasure they might even litter by throwing their empties in your direction.
Obama qualified his threat by noting 'If they MOVE their Chemical Weapons Around". This means that if Assad tries to keep them from falling into the wrong hands, he's getting attacked. Obama has told the Salafists and Islamists and others running the 'resistance' that chemical weapons are theirs for the taking.