Obama: I Need Congressional Authorization On Syria Now To Get Iran War Later

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The New York Times has a pretty shocking revelation on page one today. White House correspondent Mark Landler reveals (after interviewing unnamed senior Obama aides) that the “most compelling ” reason the President is seeking Congressional authorization to strike Iran may be this:
…acting alone would undercut him if in the next three years he needed Congressional authority for his next military confrontation in the Middle East, perhaps with Iran.

If he made the decision to strike Syria without Congress now, he said, would he get Congress when he really needed it?

In other words, attacking Syria now makes it possible to attack Iran later.

On the one hand, revealing this motivation will be a political plus with Congress which, following the lead of neocons and the Israel lobby, repeatedly and loudly declares that bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities is an option that must not be ruled out. On the contrary, Congressional leaders (again following the lobby’s lead) insist that it must be “on the table.” Connecting Syria to Iran is a sure way to get the lobby to get its forces in line for a “yes” vote.

On the other hand, Obama signals to the American public at large that attacking Syria could turn out to be considerably larger than a single surgical strike. It could be the prelude to an infinitely larger war.

It is doubtful that public opinion will accept this rationale. More likely, it will lead to intense pressure from the grassroots to defeat the Syrian authorization. Americans have famously supported a “war to end all wars.” But supporting a war to start more wars seems unlikely.

Stopping a war with Syria is apparently the best way to prevent war with Iran. Congress needs to vote “no.”

0 thoughts on “Obama: I Need Congressional Authorization On Syria Now To Get Iran War Later

  1. although many on the Left think it’s worthless, there well may be some good in phoning, e-mailing senators and representatives at this point in stating opposition to any kind of strike to Syria.
    one point could be made, (i think not as widely publicized), is that the Syrians there themselves haven’t invited us. there are yes, some rebel leaders who are in favor. two women interviewed there said that it would just bring more destruction and death. A high ranking Syrian woman said that any kind of action needs to be sanctioned by the U.N.
    listening and co-operating with war-lords of any stripe, i think to remind Congress-is a huge cost to human life, and much more.

  2. another thing might to remember is that after both elections, Obama stressed “make me”, meaning that he has to be pushed from the grassroots.
    He was a community organizer on the Southside of Chicago., i think either trained by Saul Alinsky or Saul Alinsky’s descendant.
    And Obama is not white-despite what many on the Left perceive, believe. Despite Southern anti-voting rights mobilizations, and Tea Party activism. Do we know how many death threats he gets a week? Is the righteous Left conscious of the mass mobilization of white supremacy and neo-Nazi White Aryan cells across the country since Obama was elected??

  3. Obama has done something right by asking Congress. This is not business as usual he said, we need to consider our options carefully. What is business as usual? Extra-judicial murder by drone, illegal imprisonment, regime change when we see fit, mountaintop removal, tar sands oil development, the degradation of the oceans, out of control carbon emissions; all this and more falls under business as usual. Now Obama is saying: if I hit this bully I don’t know the consequences. Help me Congress! God knows we humans need help! We claim to be a God-fearing nation. Is God silent? Does God speak to the Iranian leadership? Or do they see their own religion as fraudulent? Americans like to invoke God. Are we serious? Or is God a joke?

  4. During the Iran/Iraq war, back in the eighties when Saddam was our friend, poison gas was used on the Iranians by Saddam Hussein and the U.S. knew. In fact, recently released documents from the CIA indicate that the U.S. was complicit in the whole thing. Where were cries of “moral obscenity” then? What has Assad done that we haven’t done already? The hypocrisy is beyond all words.

  5. Friendship in the sense that we gave billions in aid to Saddam and helped him become the power that he was. Nice picture of Rumsfeld and Saddam, back in the early eighties, shaking hands. Yes, where was the rest of the world when Saddam used poison gas (Iran/Iraq war) and, according to CIA documents we knew and apparently were complicit.
    There are 196 countries on this planet. How many are willing to help with the Syrian situation? One? France–maybe–because I hear the French are not happy with this. I don’t call that a coalition. Virtually no one wants to help. There are atrocities all over this world and we cannot be the world’s police force. We’re broke, millions are slipping into povery, and given our own past history, from my perspective, we’ve lost the moral high ground.
    The thing about war is that once it’s started, you never know where it will take you.

    • But the world seems to put all its efforts into condemning Israel for its very existence.
      The thing about war is that once it’s started, you never know where it will take you.”
      The war in Syria started 2 years ago

    • The US NEVER funneled billions of $ to Iraq. The Iraqi military was a is built in old Societ technology- MIGS, T72 tans, scuds etc… Please get your facts straight.

  6. The war in Afghanistan started about 12 years ago and we’re still there. Wars are the death of republics. Our enemies answer our power with acts of terror. If we choose to continue to be the world’s police force, we may find ourselves facing another cataclysmic horror on U.S. soil. From the Pan Am 103 to embassy bombings to 9/11, to all the civil liberties we’ve lost as a result, many of us have had enough.

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