You can listen to my radio show commentary here.
My script is below.
Right Now I Am Against A US Attack on Syria
We just don’t know enough.
Hi folks. It is Thursday August 29, 2013 – coming to you from Sunset Beach, NC.
I could change my mind tomorrow. I could change my mind later today. Right now I am seeing the debate in the British Parliament. And I don’t think the sentiment is that different from the feelings over here.
However, I have no yearning for Congress to get into the debate. It will simply boil over into a political mess. It will be the hawks on one side. Those are the guys paid by the military industrial complex. On the other side sit the doves and isolationists who don’t want to get entangled in anything outside our borders.
Is that too simplistic on my part? Sure. But you get the point. There won’t be much consensus. And as usual in Congress, it will be a waste of our time.
And let me say this about the President. He has no good or easy choice. I don’t envy him. And I think President Obama – just like George W. Bush – is compromised. He is being influenced by a military that has infiltrated our industrial complex that has forced us taxpayers to buy a military arsenal that is better suited in the Cold War — not today’s wars against small bands of terrorists. In short, you got the guns, you have to use them. That shouldn’t be an excuse.
Yes, the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad should be punished if they used chemical weapons.
But do we really know that Assad is the culprit? I have yet to hear from UN inspectors. Now we may hear from them tomorrow. And there is the indication their report will be released to the public.
Even so, will we really know then? There are enough reports and sources of mine who say this: al Qaeda could have done this. They could have had access to chemical weapons in Libya — when Gaddafi fell. They could have found it in Syria when they overran some of the military complexes there.
Remember, this is not just a proxy war of Shia versus Sunni. One of my good sources told me: there is a third side to this war. You find it within the Sunnis. Al-Qaeda is Sunni and they are fighting some of the Sunni rebels for control of the anti-Assad movement.
So, we could be bombing a population for the wrong reason.
Next, we could be bombing innocent people. Yes, I know the missiles are pinpoint. And President Obama wants to find a middle ground. Let’s only hit Syria’s chemical weapon depots. We won’t be taking sides in the civil war. And we won’t hurt civilian populations. Or will we? There are too many reports that Assad has put political prisoners at all the military installations – as human shields. Are these reports true? Who knows. But why bomb on a hunch?
And lastly, what good has come from us bombing the crap out of a nation. It didn’t work in Iraq. The land of Saddam is now a hotbed of Shia and Hezbollah-like tribes doing the work for Iran. And Afghanistan is no closer to what we call democracy or peace.
What’s worse, when we do get involved — militarily — there will be unforeseen circumstances. What will Syria do to retaliate? Will Iran step in? What will Russia and China do? Will they turn on Israel as payback?
What we don’t know is that maybe Iran, Russia, and China want us to attack and get more involved and more tied down.
Right now I am with the 60-percent of Americans who say no intervention in Syria. A caveat to those polls, though. I don’t know if they asked — should we retaliate against someone who gasses his own people. You might get a different response.
But the underlying tone of most Americans is this.
When we get involved in the Middle East to help, we usually end up paying lots of money and assets.
When we get involved in the Middle East, we end up looking like the bad guy. Just look at the growing sentiment in Egypt now. Many Egyptians think we’re behind the Muslim Brotherhood and that we’re funding them.
We need to let them – the folks that live there – figure it out. Why are we there? We’re tired of being the world’s police force. Let the neighbors exert their pressure. And so far, the Arab League is not with us. And who knows if the Brits will. So why go it alone?
The reason for our entrenchment in the region has been oil. Read Sleeping with the Devil by Bob Baer. The former CIA operative explains the immoral deal we made with Saudi Arabia – back in the 1970s — to get cheap oil. What has been the outcome? The oil profits from Saudi Arabia went to the Wahabbists that radicalized people like Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.
But the oil markets are slowly changing. We don’t get much oil from the Middle East. We are making more for ourselves and other sources closer to home are feeding our petrol habit. So, oil is not as big a deal — anymore.
Sure, Israel needs to be protected. They are an ally.
And yes, the chemical weapons were an atrocity there. It’s horrible. But there have been plenty of other atrocities we failed to send troops to. And I don’t say that easily. But there is only so much we can do.
Right now I say let’s not.
Thanks for listening.
Stay informed not Inflamed.
Catch you next time.
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