Pakistan monsoon death toll rises to 299, including 140 children    Saudi Arabia issues new regulations for food laboratory operations    Saudi Tourism Ministry launches e-service to boost accommodation capacity in Makkah and Madinah for Hajj 1447    Four health colleges rank lowest in 2025 national licensure exam results    SABIC posts $1.41 billion loss in H1 2025 on UK plant closure, restructuring costs    OPEC+ to boost oil output by 547,000 bpd in September    Foreign direct investment nets SR1.9 billion in Saudi stock market for July    Saudi, Iraqi justice ministers sign cooperation agreement in Riyadh    Palestine Red Crescent says Israeli strike on Gaza HQ kills worker, injures three    Saudi defender Saud Abdulhamid joins RC Lens on loan from AS Roma    Riyadh Comedy Festival tickets now on sale for world's biggest stand-up event    Flash floods, landslides kill 8 in northern Vietnam, 3 missing    Canada rejects claims of ongoing arms exports to Israel    Saudi Gazette publishes full text of new foreign property ownership law The law grants non-Saudis broader real estate rights under defined conditions while imposing restrictions in Makkah and Madinah    Sotheby's returns Buddha jewels to India after uproar    Riyadh Film Music Festival returns with live orchestral performances of iconic movie scores    Nissan Formula E Team celebrates a landmark season 11 with proud Saudi sponsor Electromin    Fahad bin Nafel steps down as Al Hilal president after historic six-year run    João Félix unveiled by Al Nassr as €50m move marks bold new chapter in Riyadh    Saudi Arabia approves first Alzheimer's treatment with lecanemab for early-stage patients    Sholay: Bollywood epic roars back to big screen after 50 years with new ending    Ministry launches online booking for slaughterhouses on eve of Eid Al-Adha    Shah Rukh Khan makes Met Gala debut in Sabyasachi    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Obama is ‘proud'
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 13 - 03 - 2016

It's one thing for US President Barack Obama to say he made the "right decision" when he refused to launch airstrikes against President Bashar Al-Assad after the Syrian leader used sarin gas against his people. It is quite another for Obama to say, in a recent interview, that he was "proud" of the moment he pulled back after warning that the use of poison gas by the Syrian regime was a red line.
In August 2012, Obama warned the Al-Assad regime that if it used chemical weapons against its own people, the US would respond with force. One year later, the regime did exactly that, and the US was on the verge of launching retaliatory air strikes when Obama backed off. Suddenly, he decided that this plan should be sent to Congress where nothing is ever done. In the end, the US, with the help of Russia, secured an international agreement requiring Syria to give up much of its chemical weapons stockpile. The US never mounted military strikes, and the administration claimed it had used diplomacy rather than force to achieve its objective. Obama said several factors influenced his decision to go, then not go. His intelligence agencies, he says, could not guarantee that the sarin gas detected in Syria had indeed been deployed by government forces. He was also concerned that the executive authority over military action had grown too expansive. Obama also said he believed that missile strikes would not in themselves take Al-Assad or his chemical weapons out and would at the same time, put the lives of American soldiers at risk in a conflict the American people did not believe was worth dying for. The most Obama would do afterwards was authorize the CIA to train and fund Syrian rebels.
Obama raises valid points, but the about-face was a pivotal foreign policy moment which served as a key test of whether he would back up his words with military action. Because he did not, the reversal has become a prime example of the US losing its credibility.
At the outset of the Syrian uprising, in early 2011, the rebels, drawn from the ranks of ordinary citizens, needed America's support. But Obama entered the White House on the promise of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and pulling US troops out of both countries. He had never intended to open a new front of conflict.
In his first term, he came to believe that only a handful of threats in the Middle East conceivably warranted direct US military intervention. These included the threat posed by Al‐Qaeda and a nuclear-armed Iran. The danger to the US posed by the Al-Assad regime did not rise to the level of these challenges.
But the gas attack was to have changed the dynamics. In its attempt to put down what was then a two-year-old rebellion, the Syrian regime in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta killed more than 1,400 civilians with sarin gas. The red line had been crossed. But an attack on Syria was unsanctioned by international law or by Congress and the American people and most big powers seemed unenthusiastic about a Syria intervention. Two things then happened. Al-Assad got away with murder. And the failure to help build a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against him left a big vacuum which the likes of Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) have now filled.
Obama might not have been bluffing. However, he badly miscalculated when he drew a red line on chemical weapons but was not ready or willing to enforce it. The U-turn directly affected America's credibility and whether autocrats would still believe the US when it said it would do something. The world watched to see if Al-Assad could get away with it. He did.


Clic here to read the story from its source.