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Forget Libya. Syria Is Obama's Top Screw-Up

President's miscues have created a strategic disaster, Jackson Diehl argues

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 15, 2012 1:49 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Romney campaign is eager to attack President Obama over the attack on the US consulate in Libya. But that was ultimately the result of "poor security decisions by mid-level State Department officials, not policy choices by Obama," writes Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post. If you want to attack Obama's foreign policy, focus on Syria; it's an "emerging strategic disaster" that "exemplifies all the weakness in his foreign policy," including his over-reliance on multilateralism, reluctance to exert power, and insistence on "engaging" with dictators.

Engaging was Obama's first plan in Syria, even after George W. Bush learned the hard way that Bashar al-Assad "was an irredeemable thug." The administration kept trying even after protests broke out—Hillary Clinton called Assad a "reformer"—and when that failed, it insisted on pursuing ineffectual UN moves. The result: A war that has killed thousands, attracted al-Qaeda, and may spill into allies like Turkey. Libya may be the easier target, Diehl writes, "but it is Syria that is Obama's greatest failure; it will haunt whomever occupies the Oval Office next year." Click for Diehl's full column.

In this Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 photo, smoke rises from buildings due to government forces shelling seen through broken glass in Aleppo, Syria.
In this Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 photo, smoke rises from buildings due to government forces shelling seen through broken glass in Aleppo, Syria.   (AP Photo/ Manu Brabo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 50 comments
Satman
Oct 16, 2012 11:19 PM CDT
How about we list all of Barrack Hussein Obamas SCREW UPS, Would it it end uplooking like his healthcare bill, so many pages that even Glen Beck would give up reading it half way through ???
aaachaney2
Oct 16, 2012 1:51 PM CDT
Terrorists Killed , Explosive Devices Dismantled in Several Provinces A military unit on Monday destroyed four cars used for transferring terrorists, weapons and ammunition and a car equipped with a machinegun, killing a number of terrorists in Bab al-Hadid area in Aleppo city. In Aleppo city, the Armed Forces attacked terrorist gatherings near Walid Bilal Schoo;, Obeida bin al-Jarrah School, Kastal Harami Square, al-Zahrawi Souq, al-Tananir Square and other areas and inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists. In Aleppo countryside, the Armed Forces destroyed a terrorist hideout in Oram al-Sughra and eliminated several terrorists. The Armed Forces also attacked a terrorist gathering in Rif al-Muhandisin Farms in Aleppo countryside and destroyed a car loaded with weapons and terrorists. Terrorists Eliminated, Explosive Devices Dismantled in Damascus Countryside A unit of the Armed Forces dismantled a number of explosive devices which were planted by armed terrorist groups on al-Asha'ri Farm road in the eastern Ghouta in Damascus Countryside. An armed forces unit eliminated tens of terrorists and destroyed five cars they were using in the town of al-Shefouniye in the eastern part of al-Ghouta area in Damascus countryside. Armed Forces Dismantle 2 Explosive Devices in Homs Units of the armed forces in cooperation with the authorities dismantled two explosive devices which were planted by a terrorist group near the Sma'alil village turnpike on the Homs-Masyaf road. A source in the province told SANA reporter that the two devices weighed 25 kilograms each. The authorities dismantled 5 explosive devices in the same area on Sunday. Three Terrorists Killed in Hama A army unit carried out a qualitative operation against terrorists near Tal Melh crossroads in Mhardeh area in Hama, killing 3 of them. Terrorists Eliminated in Deir Ezzor A unit of the Armed Forces stormed a terrorist hideout in al-Jbeileh neighborhood in Deir Ezzor and eliminated all the terrorists inside it. Terrorist Basel al-Mustafa was identified among the dead. Three Mortar Launchers Destroyed, Terrorists Eliminated in Idleb An armed forces unit destroyed 3 mortar launchers and 3 pickup trucks along with the terrorists inside them in an operation at Wadi al-Deif area and the town of Hamdiye in Idleb countryside. Tens of terrorists were killed in this operation. An armed forces unit destroyed gatherings of terrorists in Ma'ar Shamsha in the countryside of Ma'aret a;-Nu'man and in the villages of Ihsem, al-Bara and Sarja in Jabal al-Zawiya area, eliminating tens of terrorists. The armed forces also destroyed a gathering of terrorist in Ma'artamsarin, a shoulder-mounted missile, and a pickup carrying terrorists on the Hesh-Hamdiye road. Another unit destroyed a gathering of terrorists in the town of Saraqeb, eliminating all the terrorists inside it. Terrorists Killed, Weapons Seized in Daraa Countryside Units of the Armed Forces destroyed a number of cars used by armed terrorist groups and killed scores of terrorists, some of them of non-Syrian nationalities in Daraa countryside. A source in the province told SANA reporter that terrorists Abdul-Aziz al-Shummari, of Saudi nationality and al-Mo'tasen Billah Mohammad Shdeid, of Libyan nationality along with terrorists Farouq Salah al-Akeedi, Abdul-Majeed Motlaq al-Majareesh, Ali Hassan al-Houshan and Waleed Adnan al-Zahri were identified among the dead in Muhajja area in Daraa countryside. The source said that the army destroyed several cars and terrorists command centers and arrested scores of terrorists, adding that a number of IEDs, weighting between 25-100 kg, were dismantled. The army also seized RPG launchers, machineguns and night-vision binoculars in the areas of Ain Basha, Karm Basha and Nabe' al-Sakhr in Daraa countryside. The Armed Forces killed scores of terrorists, among them was Kamal Ahmad al-Houri.
JackNelsonSteward
Oct 16, 2012 1:17 PM CDT
Yknow, it may dawn on SOMEone at some point, soon I hope, that the United States is not able to take on every nasty neighborhood bully in the world. Assad's neighbors are the ones with the most at risk in the situation.  At the very most we should be asking them what they're gonna do to handle their neighborhood bully and provide them with whatever's reasonable. THEY should be handling this and saying the fact that they aren't is Obama's fault is assuming that we ARE going to try and police the entire planet. We should begin to notice that a whole LOT of the world is increasingly not under our influence and that it's not interested in BEING under our influence and we don't have the means to FORCE it to BE under our influence. We propped up tyrants in the Middle East for decades in the name of "stability" and the people THERE ... living in that "stability," seem to have ...  I dunno ... tired of it?  WE pressed for OUR interests there and now the people there are insisting that they press THEIR OWN interests there ... whether or not it's pleasing to US. The Middle East will never be the same, and we have to deal with whatever the people there decide they're gonna do with themselves, however they decide that. Syria is a neighborhood issue.  Our best interest is served pressing the neighbors HARD to HANDLE IT!!
 

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