On Tuesday, President Obama postponed immediate military strikes against Syria to try for other alternatives.
This was impossible to avoid, given war is no joke, and with a concurrent development supported by Syria, Russia, China and Iran, where Syria is agreeing, or at least posturing to agree to place its hoard of chemical weapons in the hands of international monitors, calling for immediate US military strikes would have been illegal.
Because rule of law prescribes, even for people going to court, that one should try to exhaust all remedies.
This is what Obama is trying to do. That is clear. What is not clear is why a big part of the media and so called social and political influencers are calling him fickle, and that his continual attempts to do the right thing by seeking the approval of the Congress and then trying to find a peaceful solution, is mark of a weak character.
Now, the President seems to be in a classic situation – he is criticized for postponing immediate military strikes, and he would have clearly been criticized had he gone for immediate military strikes. Some people seem to be enjoying the situation, but jumping into war isn’t very funny.
Our nation has learned that lesson with the war on Iraq, the story of weapons of mass destruction, and the savage economic recession that followed.
While, on his Tuesday speech, Obama said that he saw “encouraging signs” in the Russian proposal to put Syrian chemicals under monitoring of the international community, we find Putin appearing on the pages of the New York Times and directly telling Americans that they shouldn’t see them as “exceptional.”
And then we find New York Times publishing a lengthy article on “Obama’s Pivots on Policy in Syria Confrontation.” The author seems downright unhappy that Obama is playing by rules he does not require to, and making sure that he does not make any mistake in dragging the country into another war.
I am no big fan of Obama, but I am no big fan of seeing our nation involved in war without clear purpose. War takes horrible toll on the country and its economy, and if the returns for the nation are unsure, then jumping into such a situation is unwise.
At least in this case, it is reasonable to find Obama is doing the right thing.