Syria: Just Wag The Dog

Published Eurasia Review on 16 June 2013
By Lawrence S. Schneiderman

LBJ had Vietnam, Clinton had Kosovo, and now Obama has Syria. Those good anti-war liberal Democrats and unremitting interventionist Republicans are at it again. These wars of obfuscation are predicated on lies. The Gulf of Tonkin, Kosovo genocide, and Syrian chemical weapons, are all fictitious ruses for partir en guerre.

You want to know why the United States is in decline? It is because our Government is corrupt. Our once great country is awash with the least of us for whom a free lunch and cell phone elects the worst among us, and the guilt-ridden who believe the sins of their fathers can be rectified through political largesse. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch. And as a result, we the people are now paying the ultimate price for this foolishness. And you outside of the United States don’t think for a minute you are not affected.

Abraham Lincoln wrote:

"Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts; not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."   

And, Theodore Roosevelt wrote:

"It is the duty of all citizens, irrespective of party, to denounce, and, so far as may be, to punish crimes against the public on the part of politicians or officials."   

Indeed, today a corrupt and scandalous government is putting America and the world in jeopardy to cover up its own failings.  It was Monica who got us into Kosovo. This time it is guns to Mexican drug cartels; Benghazi / a cover up of Islamic terrorism; IRS targeting political free speech; Justice Department spying on Journalists; NSA spying on all Americans; and IRS Commissioners, Hillary Clinton (Secretary of State), James Clapper (Director of National Intelligence), and Eric Holder (Attorney General), all lying under oath to Congress; that is responsible for getting us into a civil war in Syria.

Now as the Obama Administration feels the heat rising from an America in tatters, and dropping polls, it starts a war.  And, as has been the case during this Presidency, suddenly the mainstream media is chirping about Syria and what he wants to babble about.

As if on cue, Obama made headlines worldwide on Thursday by claiming that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against the rebels "multiple times;” and that the United States was prepared to assist the rebels with more than just fancy camouflage outfits. Never mind that multiple international organizations have disputed this claim. And that in fact, some have found that it was the rebels who first used chemical weapons.

This practice is nothing new. It’s the old canard. Trump up some false catastrophe -- then lie, obfuscate, intimidate, and malign. All the while a complicit mainstream media reports and editorializes the validity of your scam.  

For the Obama Administration and its media sycophants, Syria presents a golden opportunity to change the subject. There are no coincidences.  There is no road to perdition this administration will not go down. The timing of this announcement is not an accident.

Just wag the dog!

Lawrence S. Schneiderman is an International Consultant and Dr. of Public Policy, Vanderbilt University. The views expressed are the author’s own.