Dr. James P. Wickstrom
America Says 'No!' to a Beltway War
September 11, 2013
Last week, hell came to the tiny Christian village of Maaloula where they still speak Aramaic, the language of Christ.
“Rebels
of the Free Syrian Army launched an assault aided by a suicide bomber
from Jabhat al-Nusra,” the al-Qaida-linked Islamic terrorist group,
writes the Washington Post.
The
AP picked up the story: One resident said bearded rebels shouting “God
is great!” attacked Christian homes and churches. “They shot and killed
people. … I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street.”
Maaloula
is now a “ghost town.” Christians left behind were told, “Either you
convert to Islam or you will be beheaded.” “Where is President Obama?”
wailed a refugee. And, indeed, where is Obama?
He
is out lobbying Congress for authority to attack the Syrian army that
defended Maaloula as John McCain beats the drums for a Senate resolution
to have the U.S. military “change the momentum” of the war to the
rebels who terrorized the convent nuns of Maaloula.
If we strike Syria and break its army, what happens to 2 million Syrian Christians? Does anyone care?
Do
the Saudis who have signed on to Obama’s war — but decline to fight —
care? Conversion to Christianity is a capital offense in Riyadh.
Do
the Turks, who look the other way as jihadist killers cross their
frontier to set up al-Qaida sanctuaries in northern Syria, care?
Do
the Israelis, who have instructed AIPAC to get Congress back in line
behind a war Americans do not want to fight, care about those 100,000
dead Syrians and 400 gassed children?
Here
is Alon Pinkas, Israel’s former general consul in New York, giving
Israel’s view of the Syrian bloodletting: “Let them both bleed,
hemorrhage to death. That’s the strategic thinking here.”
According
to two polls reported this weekend by the Jerusalem Post, Israelis by
7-1 do not want Israel to go to war with Syria. But two-thirds of
Israelis favor the United States going to war with Syria.
Peggy
Noonan writes that the debate on war on Syria “looks like a fight
between the country and Washington.” She nails it. The Washington Post,
Wall Street Journal and Weekly Standard are all up for air strikes. In
the think tanks of D.C., the corridor talk is all about “On to Teheran!”
But
what of the soldiers who will fight the neocons’ war? Major General
Robert Scales speaks for our next generation of wounded warriors. Our
fighting men, Scales writes, “are tired of wannabe soldiers who remain
enamored of bloodless machine warfare … Today’s soldiers know war and
resent civilian policymakers who want the military to fight a war that
neither they nor their loved ones will experience firsthand.” Enthusiasm
for war is likely higher at Cafe Milano in Georgetown than in the mess
hall at Camp LeJeune.
Why is opposition to the war surging? Because the case for war is crumbling.
U.S.
credibility is on the line, we are warned. If we do not attack Syria to
punish a violation of Obama’s “red line,” no one will believe us again.
Our allies will no longer have confidence that America will come over
and fight their next war for them.
Yet
George Bush blustered in his “axis-of-evil” State of the Union that
“the world’s worst dictators” would not be allowed to get “the world’s
worst weapons.” And Kim Jong Il went out and tested an atom bomb and
built an arsenal of nuclear weapons. And what did The Decider do?
Nothing. Did our alliances collapse because “W’s” bluff was called?
Should
Congress really authorize a war on Syria because Hillary Clinton and
Obama said “Assad must go!” and Obama said his “red line” has been
crossed? Or should Congress use this vote as a teaching tool for Baby
Boomer Bismarcks by declaring: “We are not taking our country to war
because you blundered in issuing ultimata you had no authority to issue.
Rather than go to war, you should admit your mistake, as real leaders
do, and take responsibility.”
How
many Syrians should we kill to restore the credibility of Barack Obama?
How many Syrians should we kill to impress upon Iran how resolute we
are?
How many Syrians should
we kill to reassure nervous allies that
Uncle Sam will forever come fight their wars for them?
In
America, before we put a man to death, we prove him guilty of murder
“beyond a reasonable doubt.” Should we not set as high a standard of
proof before we kill a thousand Syrians and plunge the United States
into another war?
Where
is the evidence Assad ordered a gas attack? German intelligence says it
intercepted orders from Assad not to use gas. Congressmen coming out of
secret briefings say the case is inconclusive.
The
American people do not want war on Syria, and such a war makes no
sense. Who is trying to stampede Congress into war on Syria, and then on
Iran — and why? Therein lies the real question.