Today U.S. President Barack Obama warned that the American military would act if Syria uses chemical weapons against insurgents. Sure it’s a different situation, and a different president but I get just a bit nervous when the US starts talking about chemical weapons or any “WMD”. After the invasion of Iraq there is an obvious credibility problem with US intelligence. ( I mean this both in the sense that information gathered by US spies isn’t very reliable and in the sense that an alarming number of Americans still believe that WMDs were found in Iraq.)
Apart from the credibility problem there is a bit of a hypocrisy problem. Since the ‘War on Terror’ began, the US has been a bit obsessive about WMDs, weapons in general, who has them and who wants them. However, it is worth noting that
- The US is one of 9 (possibly 10) countries known to possess nuclear weapons and one of only 4 countries (including Syria) known to possess chemical weapons.
- The US is suspected of regularly using radiological/radioactive weapons and possibly chemical weapons as well.
- The US has refused to ban weapons that most of the world considers to be to barbaric for use, even in war such as land mines and cluster bombs.
- The US outspends the world when it comes to weapons and is the world’s leading exporter of weapons.
- Finally, whether it’s for economic reasons or just for fun the United States really, really, really likes war – probably more than any other country in history. There has rarely been a time when the US wasn’t at war (officially or unofficially) with someone over something.
I point all of this out because if you asked around globally, you’d find the US pointed to the most frequently as the biggest threat to peace, and the most likely to break the international agreements on warfare. If you point to any weapon that exists in the world there is a fair chance that it came from and/or was paid for by the United States. The U.S. is truly the country that delivers war to the world (along with the necessary supplies for it).
So yes, I understand that Barack Obama is not George W. Bush. At the same time, from a foreign policy perspective he is not vastly different. Yes he has been better domestically – for Americans – but the expected changes in international policy and renewed goodwill toward America never really materialized.
When I hear any US President say “if you do X we weill respond with force” what I hear is “We will attack, if it suits us and for reasons of our own.” Any US involvement in Syria or any other country should only take place under the auspices of the United Nations. Without that US motives and the evidence used to justify the attack will, at the very least, be suspect.
But, to cheer you up here are the Doors performing Reading Rainbow … ok it’s really Jimmy Fallon but still …