Glen Greenwald: Obama, Congress and Syria

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But what makes the celebratory reaction to yesterday's announcement particularly odd is that the Congressional vote which Obama said he would seek appears, in his mind, to have no binding force at all. There is no reason to believe that a Congressional rejection of the war's authorization would constrain Obama in any way, other than perhaps politically. To the contrary, there is substantial evidence for the proposition that the White House sees the vote as purely advisory, i.e., meaningless.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/01/obama-congress-syri...

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OMG my head is gonna explode...

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aigeanta's picture

There are few things more bizarre than watching people advocate that another country be bombed even while acknowledging that it will achieve no good outcomes other than safeguarding the "credibility" of those doing the bombing. Relatedly, it's hard to imagine a more potent sign of a weak, declining empire than having one's national "credibility" depend upon periodically bombing other countries.

Let's lay out the possibilities here:

  1. Assad killed his own people (with chemical weapons).
    1. We bomb Syria; Syrians die (via US bombs and more civil war).
    2. We don't bomb Syria; Syrians die (via more civil war).
  2. Rebels killed their own people (with chemical weapons).
    1. We bomb Syria; Syrians die (via US bombs and more civil war).
    2. We don't bomb Syria; Syrians die (via more civil war).

As you can see, either way, there is going to be more death via civil war. All we can do is add US bombs.

This is why stronger international bodies of diplomacy need to be designated. If the UN is broken, it needs to be fixed. We should stop pussyfooting around the real issues, which are vast amounts of fossil fuels have ripped about the entire Middle East because all the big world powers have strategic interests there, because they all completely lack the imagination and will to wean themselves from the global black tar heroin of oil.

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It's gonna happen Bruce

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LaEscapee's picture

And it matters not what the "people" think or express. It has been decided that children must sacrifice foodstamps and grandma must eat catfood to assuage the cost of every Tomahawk sent as a Peace Symbol. How you teach someone a lesson not to kill his people by killing his people is beyond me.

Send the bombs, btw Isreal distribute duct tape and gas masks. For those that beleive, believe this... Hell is getting ready to rain down on you and in the process will accomplish exactly what you asked for.

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And that sacrifice is purely symbolic ...

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BruceMcF's picture

... there's only a conflict between guns and butter as these levels of unemployment because the Congress has agreed to tie both hands behind its back. Sure, its one of those comic knots, where if the person tied up lets go, the ropes fall away ... but the Congress is holding onto the trick ropes with all its might.

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