Hands Off Syria??

[Waiting For Everyman]

I have a strong hunch most people here would do a lot better than this. The vid does make a generally valid point though... as we see.

[Tx4obama]

1. Shows why congresscritters should NOT consider polls while making their decision about Syria

Congress folks need to study the 'facts' and then make an INFORMED decision based on reality - not on what a whole bunch of people that are uninformed think.

And the video also shows why this important decision should be made by The President,
without everyone giving him flack about what the daily polls say too

[highprincipleswork]

2. Suppose that explains why we should trust statements from the WH that seem so cynical and false

“All of that leads to a quite strong common-sense test irrespective of the intelligence that suggests that the regime carried this out. Now do we have a picture or do we have irrefutable beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence? This is not a court of law and intelligence does not work that way,”

Statement from the White House.

Sure sounds like they have a firm grasp on the facts?

Listen, you don't have to know where Syria is on the map to know that you don't want to get involved in bombing them because they are harming their own people. To spend our money, risk our lives, for no foreseeable gain, but mostly a chance to save face for this administration. To take that risk, spend money we could easily spend on thing that concern our people more. To answer no direct threat to this country. To attack another nation unilaterally in a move that many say is against international law. To do so with other nations paying lip service to some of our principles but definitely not committing their own military to the effort.

We should never have drawn some red line. We should not be the world police. We should be working diplomatically to bring other countries into a truly effective and reasonable solution.

Air strikes is definitely not the answer, and the simplest person in the country can see that is so.

So no eggheaded answer, relying on supposedly better intelligence (which they refuse to totally share) is superior to that.

Look, I went to an Ivy League school, got a high honors degree, but I know I can do some pretty stupid things.

On the face of it, the art of war and/or art of politics involved in this latest administration series of moves really seem incompetent, not bright, dishonest, and weak.

[Waiting For Everyman]

3. Yes, governing by polls is a very bad idea.

This is a very tough decision, I don't envy those having to make it. It has a similar feel to it, to the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Don't know about you but I remember that very well, it was a very scary time.)

But the one thing I do hope is that everyone who is involved in the process is well-informed. The President does inspire confidence on that score. But I'm not sure we'd want to know how many Congress folks might flunk that little quiz. I'm half-kidding, I hope I'm wrong on that.

We, the public, do have an obligation to educate ourselves too. Especially if we're going to be active politically.

The key fact for me about this, or one of them, has been whether the Syrian public in general really, really, really wanted us there. A week ago I didn't think so. But I decided to try to find that out, and read quite a bit, and the facts surprised me, I was wrong. Syrians do in fact want our help, very badly. That still doesn't say what we should do though, the situation is so complicated. My experience is leading me to wonder if it may be the "undecideds" who have the better grasp of it, because there is no strongly best answer, yes or no. They're both impossible choices.

I just hope that The President finds the same creative judgment that JFK had during the missile crisis. He is a good man for such a moment, fortunately.