Barack Obama's top five flip-flops on Syria – or why so many find it hard to trust him on war
By Tim Stanley US politics Last updated: September 5th, 2013
It says a lot about Barack Obama that some commentators think his decision to seek Congress' opinion on war with Syria is a great big con. Rand Paul suggests that he will ignore the legislature if it votes no (so this is just a PR thing). Allen West says that the Prez is looking for someone to share the blame with if things go horribly wrong. And Neil Cavuto floated the possibility that he wants the vote to fail so that he can justify inaction. The bottom line: a lot of people struggle to trust this President, and for good reason. He's changed his mind so often on foreign policy that he can't really be said to have a policy at all – just a sequence of short-term political needs articulated surprisingly badly. Here are the top five flip-flops related to Syria:
1. Obama set a red line and then claimed that he didn't. A major reason why the West is considering action is because over a year ago Obama laid down a red line for war – if Assad uses chemical weapons then the US will take action. Yesterday, he said, " I didn't set a red line. The world set a red line." No, sir, you most certainly did. True, almost the entire world has outlawed chemical weapons and regards them as a war crime. But that's a trigger for war crimes prosecution, not war itself.
2. Obama used to think that Assad was a force for peace in the world – or, at least, he was happy to deal with him. For example, in 2009, John Kerry visited Syria and said, "President Barack Obama's administration considers Syria a key player in Washington's efforts to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.†He added, "Syria is an essential player in bringing peace and stability to the region.†By the way, Syria was still listed as a state sponsor of terrorism when Kerry delivered that eccentric verdict.
Link to full postTim Stanley is that rare thing, a blogger worth reading - even when one disagrees with him. He's an historian with a focus on post-war America, and also a leader writer with the leading right-wing British newspaper...he's not a fan of Pres. Obama (in case you didn't guess).
