Kinetic Military Action in Syria: Stop Pretending that Damascus Will Not Be the Next Benghazi

by Gerard Emershaw

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A despotic secular leader of an Islamic country is accused of murdering his own people during a civil war. Americans who were still angry over being lied into war in Iraq are not eager for another war. A future head of the Natonal Security Council, the next likely POTUS, and a future ambassador to the UN begin propagating ridiculous propaganda about the despotic secular Islamic leader giving Viagra to his soliders so that they could rape civilians. The United States intervenes unconstitutionally and engages in “kinetic military action” which involves launching Tomahawk missiles—cruise missiles which are tipped with depleted uranium and are properly considered Geneva Conventions violating radioactive poison gas weapons. Dozens of civilians are killed in the American led NATO attacks. The United States succeeds in helping the bloodthirsty Jihadist rebels overthrow the secular tyrant. These Jihadist rebels—who are closely affiliated with al Qaeda—engage in genocidal revenge killings against black citizens who fought on the side of the secular tyrant. Thanks to the United States, the al Qaeda flag flies over a major city in the nation. A year later four Americans are murdered in an attack by some of the very Jihadists that the United States supported in the civil war.

Sound familiar, neocons? Benghazi? Ring a bell? You know, the tragic incident that resulted from blockback that was created by American invervention in Libya? Do me a favor, neocons. Put down your copies of Machiavelli, Plato, and Strauss. Stop making goo goo eyes at that autographed photo of Trotsky that you bought on eBay. Stop pretending that you’re conservatives. Stop thinking about how much you love the Bismarkian welfare state and Keynesian economics. Just listen.

The warmongering neo-Wilsonian President Obama is about to violate the Constitution by declaring war on Syria without the permission of Congress. Just as he did in Libya. He is going to justify it as a humanitarian action against a tyrant who is killing his own people. Just like he did in Libya. He is going to help an al Qaeda allied rebel group topple a secular tyrant. Just like he did in Libya.

In between trying to convince real conservatives that Trotsky was Barry Goldwater with weird hair and glasses and that Irving Kristol was an actual free market capitalist, the neoconservatives will ask: “What could possibly go wrong?” They will say that President Obama must attack Syria in order to not appear weak on the world stage. They will say that President Obama must send a tough message to Iran and that attacking Syria will accomplish just that. Constituton be damned! They will admit that Iraqis were not killing Kuwaiti babies in incubators prior to the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein did not have WMDs or conspire to carry out the 9/11 attacks, and that black Libyan soldiers were not using Viagra to rape Libyan women. But they will claim that Syria is different. They will swear that this time the U.S. citizenry can trust them. It’s just not possible that the Jihadists would lie about Assad using chemical weapons. It’s not possible that it was a false flag attack carried about by the Jihadist rebels. Friends of al Qaeda would never do anything nefarious like that.

The neocons will promise that Syria will be completely different from Libya. The Jihadists will send us Christmas cards and flowers for helping them overthrow Assad. These Jihadists are “good al Qaeda.” Sort of like “good cholesterol.” That is the Straussian noble lie which they will tell. When the al Qaeda flag flies over Damascus, they will pretend to be shocked. When Syrian rebels commit atrocities against innocent citizens, they will make excuses. When these Jihadists begin ethnically cleansing Syria of Christians, they will say it's just a few bad apples doing it. When Syria becomes a training ground for al Qaeda, they will pretend that nobody could have seen it coming and claim that not having Assad around anymore somehow trumps that. They will claim that somehow having yet another Jihadist neighbor will benefit Israel.

All those so called conservatives who follow neocon RINOs like McCain, Graham, and King and neo-progressive warmongers like Obama, Kerry, and Rice and support American military action in Syria forfeit the right to express righteous indignation over what happened in Benghazi. All those so called conservatives who think it is okay for President Obama to violate the Constitution by unilaterally declaring war in Syria forfeit their right to complain next time the President violates the Constitution in order to carry out some domestic policy which they oppose—whether it be on immigration, abortion, health care, gay rights, taxation, etc.  

What could possibly go wrong? Unless you count the likelihood of blowback against American citizens in the form of Jihadist terrorism, then nothing. But if you support American military action against Assad, do not pretend you did not see it coming when blowback occurs.