Monday, April 9, 2018

The parallel universe of Iraq







"My vote? Pull a Putin. Send in a miniature drone with some kind of nerve agent aboard. Rumor has it we have some drones on the drawing board which are all but undetectable. Assad dies, and then so does his government."



Most have heard the news by now. The bad boy of Syria, Assad, has gassed his own people again. There are so many things wrong with this, I don't even know where to start. So I will start from here. Using a WMD like gas, a banned substance, should cause the Blue Hats to come marching into Syria, forcibly remove Assad from power and put him on trail at the Hague. That is - if we had a United Nations comprised of people other than just naval gazers. 

In the past few years, I have wondered what things would be like if we truly had parallel universes. In other words, if we lived in a multiverse. In another universe, we did not go into Iraq and remove Saddam from power. What would the Mideast be like right now? Would it be better, with Iraq acting like a check and balance to Iran, or would Saddam and Assad have formed an alliance. With that alliance, there could have been a proliferation of WMD in the entire area.

Saddam used gas. Twice for sure. Once against Iran during the Eight Year War, and once against his own people - the Kurds. The United Nations had the same forceful response against Saddam that it did against Assad - a big nothing burger. So here we have two bad actors in the Middle East, one living, one dead, both using a banned substance on their own people. 

President Trump thinks going into Iraq after Saddam was a mistake. I disagree with the President. Let me just say this. The last thing I did in my Navy career was do a "lessons learned" white paper for NSA at the conclusion of Desert Storm. Without going into detail, we had every right to believe Saddam was going to eventually set the region on fire (again). He ignored numerous UN mandates. He had to go - plain and simple. The clock was ticking.

What should be do about Assad? Do we target him, and pray we don't kill and Russians as collateral damage? Or should we do like the UN continues to do, and turn a blind eye. The UN so much as tells the Syrians, "sucks being you", and then walks away. 

My vote? Pull a Putin. Send in a miniature drone with some kind of nerve agent aboard. Rumor has it we have some drones on the drawing board which are all but undetectable. Assad dies, and then so does his government. However, before I did that, I think Trump should give him one last chance. 

What kind of chance you might ask? Just like in the Wizard of Oz, when the Wicked Witch told Dorothy, "Surrender or Die!" That would work. I like it.

1 comment:

  1. Apparently, Fox and Friends were not clear enough in their assessment of how to proceed in Syria.
    DIC needs 24 to 48 hours to talk to Hannity and O'Reilly before making a decision on what type of retaliation or sanctions will be made re:Syria.
    This is a difficult one for DIC.
    His base couldn't find Syria on a map and have no care or concerns what happens in the middle East.
    Even the bible thumpers, who should recognize this could be the "end times" as written in Revelations, are not going to help him with this one.
    If we had a leader who had some reference to middle east history and politics, we could expect a thorough and studied approach.
    But DIC is not that man.
    DIC is president of the United States by title and law.
    He is not president of all Americans.
    DIC cares only about his voters and the most enthusiastic part of his "base."
    He is a political cult leader.
    Nothing seems to matter to him but the adoration and power that comes from his followers.
    DIC's supporters are driven by racism, sexism, Christian nationalism and nativism.
    They hold authoritarian values, and hold America's democratic norms in contempt.
    All that matters is winning: Democracy be damned.
    We'll see how he handles being front and center on the world's stage.
    Can the biggest bully on earth see his way towards a solution or compromise, or is winning the only strategy available.

    ReplyDelete