What "Credibility?"

We are being told over and over again that if we do not attack Syria we will lose all credibility. Can anyone seriously believe the U.S. actually has any credibility with most of the world? Our loss of credibility probably started quite a while back, but after the Bush/Cheney nightmare years, when no true statement was ever uttered by anyone in that godawful administration, and now when similar lies and deceit are still being practiced and secrecy and misinformation are the rule, the situation cannot be said to have improved.  We don’t have to attack Syria to establish credibility because our credibility has vanished completely.

And we don’t have to attack Syria to prove how stupid we are either as that, too, has been well established. The current controversy about Syria has already demonstrated, if there was any doubt in the first place, that our government (if we can even call it that anymore) has been in the hands of the most dishonest, hypocritical, confused bunch of bumbling imbeciles ever assembled in one place. Our credibility, after Iraq, has been so damaged that even some of the imbeciles themselves don’t believe what Kerry and others are telling us.

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the “war” on Syria (I know, we’re not supposed to call it that as we are being reassured it is not a war) never occurred because of eventual loss of interest? I mean what with the constant bombardment of pro’s and con’s, the indecision, confusion, differences of opinion, arguments about how many we should kill (just a few or lots) or not kill, who they will be, whether what we do will make any differences, what might happen after we do “it,” whatever it turns out to be, and so on and on it might well be that inertia will set in, everyone will be so bored about hearing about it, that it might never happen. It might never happen anyway if Congress doesn’t approve, but it might happen even if they do disapprove. Wheeeee !  It’s just one great big jumbled mass of buzzing, blooming confusion:  will we or won’t we, should we or shouldn’t we, can we or can’t we, do we or don’t we, why we or not, and so on. Of course the fact that it will be illegal and against international law as Syria is not a threat to us seems to be seriously ignored. That is not surprising as international law doesn’t apply to the U.S. or Israel, only to other countries. Other countries use improper weapons, ours are never improper, especially agent orange, white phosphorus, cluster bombs, and worse. And of course St. Ronnie didn’t hesitate to supply poison gas to Iraq when we were helping them war against Iran. We do not have war criminals, other countries have war criminals (even though we have a few who strut around boasting of their war crimes).  Rest assured, our credibility is not on the line. It doesn’t exist.

 Of course I know nothing about it, as an ordinary citizen of the U.S. it is my place in the scheme of things to know nothing. But if I had to guess (as I do) I’d guess President Putin is closer to the truth of the matter than we are. It does seem reasonable to me that Assad would have been truly stupid to have deliberately used poison gas, first of all because he’s winning, and second, because he would have known he was risking international intervention (putting it mildly). The Sarin, or whatever it was, was quite likely used by the rebels, so while there is no doubt poison gas was used, there is considerable doubt as to who used it (except in the minds of Kerry, Hagel, Obama, and others who knew immediately it was Assad (who conveniently represents Iran, the ultimate target). It seems pretty clear even to me (in my ignorance) that the U.S., Israel, and the Saudi’s will do anything to damage Iran, as we have all been trying to do for years. Iranians are not Arabs, and they are not Sunnis, and they might have their own legitimate (outrageous?) national interests in the Middle East, where they live (rather than our presumably more “legitimate” interests)  from thousands of miles away. Thus they are the enemies of Arabs and Sunnis (and the mostly imaginary enemies of Israel and the U.S).

"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events."

 Sir Winston Churchill