Obama and Assad's Blood Stained Line

A line in the sand is a metaphor with two similar meanings:

• The first meaning is of a point (physical, decisional, etc.) beyond which one will proceed no further.  
• The second meaning is that of a point beyond which, once the decision to go beyond it is made, the decision and its resulting consequences are permanently decided and irreversible.

It is generally believed that if someone should “cross the line” than their behavior is wrong and not socially acceptable. The recent use by President Assad of chemical weapons, whose use was banned in warfare by a 1925 international treaty, does indeed cross a line, into a sort of brutality so extreme that the civilized world cannot afford to tolerate it.

President Obama left his proverbial “fly open” by making multiple “Line in the sand” threats against Bashar Assad to end the civil war in Syria. President Obama's lack of an immediate and swift military response not only embarrassed himself but has made a mockery of his administration as well.

This bloody civil war has been raging for more than two years and has claimed more than 100,000 civilian casualties, many of them women and children in atrocities that shock the conscience. President Obama’s failure to enact his threats to stop this bloodshed has stained all brave Americans with cowardice. It is hoped by many American's that after President Obama speech that he has come to the conclusion to never make a threat if you cannot willingly carry it out. As President he needs to know that; "When placed in command — take charge." And that "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, do without the strategy."

Like some spoiled grade school kid to the school bully he threatened President Bashar Assad, of "Red Lines" and than he stepped back, again and again. The people of the world and the Middle East now know that the US which was once feared by evil leaders as the "most powerful Democracy" is in reality a weak kneed "Paper Lion".

From my own personal experience in life I agree with the words of the late Four Star General and Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991 H. NormanSchwarzkopf, Jr. that; “Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar.” And that;

 "A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers. All you have to do is hold your first dying soldier in your arms, and have that terribly futile feeling that his life is flowing out and you can’t do anything about it. Then you understand the horror of war.” 

As an Israeli I will reiterate that I personally do not want the US to get involved in Syria because most Americans do not have the faintest idea of what makes up the Middle East. The most glaring example of American ineptitude by the US in the Middle East occurred thirty years ago on October 23, 1983 during the Lebanese Civil War in the Beirut Barracks Bombings incident. Suicide bombers from the 'Islamic Jihad' drove two trucks laden with 9,525 kg (21,000 pounds) of TNT into separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force (MNF) in Beirut,Lebanon.

This single attack represented the deadliest single-day death toll for the US Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since the first day of the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive, and the deadliest single attack on Americans overseas since World War One.

All told 299 American and French servicemen were murdered—241 American servicemen: 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers, along with 60 injured. A then obscure group calling itself 'Islamic Jihad' led by Imad Mughniyah,a non-"Falestinian" Lebanese Shiite member of  Palestinian Fatah’s Force 17 claimed responsibility for the bombing. This same Imand Mughniyah who was responsible for the deaths of many Americans was a founder and a senior member of Lebanon's Hezbollah.

It is because of this continuing ineptitude of the US Intelligence Departments and the State Department that I stand firmly behind the fact that Americans should not get involved and to sacrifice their kids for either side in the quagmire that the Syrian Civil War has become. Especially in light of it’s two warring fractions that I term "Bad" or "Even Worst".

It is my fervent wish; I hope it is yours too, for them to murder each other in droves. The “Pro Assad” "Secular" Baath regime is being backed by the fanatically religious Shi'ite regime of Iran and their Lebanese lackeys the Hezbollah. The rebels are a confused mixture with a new and odious vicious group The Chechnian Al Qaeda.

This particularly vicious radical and fanatical Sunni Moslem religious group is involved in the fighting and they are getting stronger. For the moment they are fighting against the forces of Assad and the Hezbollah. And for once I actually agree with Russian President Vladimir Putkin and with the Ruskies that as long as the Al Qaeda’s Chechen, Caucasian fighters are getting killed and the Hezbollah are being killed we should be immensely thankful! As my Christian Lebanese friends say; “Inshallah may they continue!” 

As an American, President Obama is right on the count that he needs to know that at least the US Congress will back him up. When the US Congress reconvenes I think that it is about time that all US voters/taxpayers wipe the smirk smiles off those Arab faces. Use this “Golden Opportunity” to take immediate action to bombard your representatives, congressmen and Senators to wake up and cut off ALL foreign aid to ALL Arab countries, the UN and especially UNWRA!!!

IF the Arabs are “Laughing” at the USA than Let them “foot” the bill  LITERALLY. After all the billions if not trillions in US Tax dollars spent on saving the wrong guy in Arab countries over the years. It is time for the Arabs primarily Saudi Arabia -YOUR "US Gas Dollars at work" to police the area. AND the USA should demand repayment! I ask;"Why should you Americas spend your hard owned tax dollars to protect the lavish lifestyles of the Saudi Princes?" And what do YOU the US Taxpayer's have to say to this? Did I hear any of you writing your congressman about cutting US Aid to the Arabs? I mean wouldn't it be nice to get back the TRILLIONS wasted on protecting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf State Emirates to pay for America schools, Health Care and aging infrastructure?

American naiveté of the Middle East can be further witnessed in an interview to Al Arabiya, few days after his inauguration, Obama declared: "my job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.  President Obama in his infamous "A New Beginning" speech in Cairo in June of 2009 embarrassed himself and the American people by trying to "make up" with the Arabs of the World. At that time that Egypt was chosen as the place for the speech because as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated; "it is a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world.”

President Obama and his adviser's fiasco of not comprehending the Middle East is further exasperated in his lauding of the "Election" of the Moslem Brotherhood leadership in President Morsi and his ostracizing the Egyptian Military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The moderate mainly secular middle class youth who led the protests in Tahrir Square, in what the imbeciles of the BBC and CNN termed the "Arab Spring" protests, brought the Moslem Brotherhood into power. The "romance" with the "Democratic" removal of President Hosni Mubarak seemed a clear message from the White House.

Though the Army had supported Mubarak through his decades-long rule, it became increasingly clear that the Moslem Brotherhood had the best political operation and would likely win the popular vote in the elections of 2012 Ever-pragmatic businessmen, the military officers realized that they had to negotiate with their erstwhile enemies, to protect their own institutions, perks, and bank accounts, they would have to step in on the side of the protesters of the "Arab Spring" against Mubarak. When Morsi turned autocratic and the Brotherhood subverted the popular will, Egypt received little in support from the U.S.

The extremely fanatical Islamic fundamentalist group which had been outlawed by the Egyptians, who knew what they were all about, was released from its’ “Pandora box”. Suddenly they took over as the Nazis did through “Democratic” elections because the Moderate and seculars “thought they had the elections in the bag” they had not realized that the Moslem Brotherhood out numbered them. These Sixth Century backward uneducated Islamic religious fanatics began to reverse Egypt, like Iran in 1979.

“Luckily” the Egyptian military leadership reversed all this is their military putsch. And for once it was a military Junta that took control to bring sanity back to what was once a close ally to the US.  Egyptian General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rationalized the military putsch he helped orchestrate to depose Egyptian President and Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Muhammad Morsi by saying:

The dilemma between the former president [Muhammad Morsi] and the people originated from [the Muslim Brotherhood’s] concept of the state, the ideology that they adopted for building a country, which is based on restoring the Islamic religious empire [El Kalifa or Califate (Caliphate) ]. That’s what made [Mohamed Morsi] not a president for all Egyptians but a president representing his followers and supporters.

Egyptian General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi‎ wrote that “The Conception of Democracy from [an] Islamic Perspective,” articulates his wide world perception of ideas and beliefs as follows:

Democracy, as a secular entity, is unlikely to be favorably received by the vast majority of Middle Easterners, who are devout followers of the Islamic faith.…Although concerns exist, for the most part, the spirit of democracy, or self-rule, is viewed as a positive endeavor so long as it builds up the country and sustains the religious base, versus devaluing religion and creating instability.

Democracy cannot be understood in the Middle East without an understanding of the concept of El Kalafa [the Caliphate]. El Kalafa dates back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. During his life and the seventy year period that followed the ideal state of El Kalafa existed as a way of life among the people and within the governing bodies. This period of time is viewed as a very special period and is considered the ideal form of government and it is widely recognized as the goal for any new form of government very much in the manner that the U.S. pursued the ideals of “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.” From the Middle Eastern perspective, the defining words governing their form of democracy would likely reflect “fairness, justice, equality, unity and charity.”

But President Obama and his advisors once again have shown their ignorance by siding with the “Democratically Elected” Mohamed Morsi while ostracizing the Egyptian Military leader General AbdelFattah al-Sisi. As he bluntly told The Washington Post in a rare recent interview: “You turned your back on the Egyptians, and they won’t forget that.” 

Since the overthrow of the Moslem Brotherhood and Morsi in Egypt and the cut off of US funds, the Sunni royals of the Gulf States, who have their own agenda in Egypt, have secured billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. President Obama and the US rejection of the “Military Junta” has so angered the Egyptians that the Egyptian Minister of Defense recently stated that “No (US) warship has the right to pass through the Suez Canal to attack Syria”

I seriously doubt that President Obama’s “advisors” are aware that Al-Sisi was selected to attend the U.S. Army War College in 2006 during a severely traumatic period in the Middle East—for Americans as well as for Arabs. It was while at the War College, al-Sisi wrote an 11-page academic paper titled “Democracy in the Middle East.”

In his paper he pointed out the influence of Christianity and its culture on American government, especially in its early days, drawing a parallel with the role of Islam now in the establishment of nascent Middle Eastern democracies. Al-Sisi wrote that whereas;

• Americans believe in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,”
• Islamic cultures cling to principles of “fairness, justice, equality, unity, and charity,”
• Americans look to their republic’s Founding Fathers for guidance;
•  Muslims cherish the memory of the ancient caliphate. 
• It is ironic that in this paper he states that “this does not mean a theocracy will be established,” wrote al-Sisi, “rather it means a democracy will be established based on Islamic beliefs.”

And another fact to note is that since the Camp David peace accords 1978 more than $1.4 billion a year from the United States pours into the coffers of the Egyptian military. This policy, which originates back in the days of British Imperial involvement in the nineteenth century, was meant to keep its officers and soldiers loyal because the Egyptian military pays out rich dividends to them. The military draws on recruits from all levels of Egyptian society. Egypt historically has been a state habitually plagued by nepotism and corruption. As officers move up the ranks, they move ever-more deeply into a world intentionally isolated from the rest of the country. They have their own apartments, their own clubs, their own schools and stores. The Army has its own manufacturing empire and a vast construction business that frequently shuts out the private sector in bids for contracts with little or no public accountability.

As to the embarrassing fall of our once staunch ally in the United Kingdom. The vote in the English House of Commons shows not only the war weariness of the English people but it is a warning bell to the people of England and Europe of the spread and rise in population of their Moslem constituents and their growing political power from within.

The quagmire we live in today vis a vis the Arab world is a direct outcome of those who still cannot comprehend the hidden agenda and rise of post 9/11 radical Islam and the inner warfare between the two sects Shiism and Sunni.

Since taking office, Obama stated his support for the creation of a "Falestinian" state and announced that he would engage in negotiations with Iran. He also declared he opposed Israeli settlements and wanted to revive "Falestinian" peace talks. The two examples of Syria and Egypt, that I have presented above show exactly why the US pressure on Israel is so wrong. Binyamin Netanyahu’s six-year old policy, which was oriented on engendering understanding with Barack Obama, is in ruins as Bibi now has to wipe egg off his face.

And of course yet again we in Israel have been left holding the proverbial bag and have been put in a tight spot on three counts:

1.  The hostile Iran-Syrian-Hezbollah bloc comes out strengthened;

2.  Tehran can feel free to develop a nuclear bomb without fear of resolute US interference;

3.  Hezbollah can celebrate its backing for the winning horse in Damascus.

In the meantime “Wile E. Coyote” aka Bashar Assad and his Iranian partners now have all the time in the world to line up their counter moves. And we will continue to hear the laughter from the whole Arab world of what a total fool and weak leader the US has.