By Arik Smila.
It’s all too familiar… Can we allow ourselves to strike again? Can we afford another war?
Obama is nervous and hesitant these days. It would have been much easier if Assad wouldn’t use mass destruction weapon. Now America, as the keeper of the most sacred values of life, liberty and basic human rights cannot stand aside as poor, innocent women and children are being massacred by a vicious dictator. Obama is on a crossroads… On the one hand, he don’t want to leave the same quick-to-draw heritage as his predecessor, and the wounds of the bloody Iraq and Afghanistan war are yet to heal. After all, his slogan was change.
But then again, can the most powerful (yes, still) nation and the leader of the free world allow such atrocities to take place? how will history judge them as photos of hundreds of children’s corpses lay covered in white sheets?
In historical context, America always took into consideration it’s most recent battle experience in their decision to strike. Vietnam was a direct result of the Korea war as America was keen not to lose another “Western” country to the red side. The decision to enter the south Asian state wasn’t a hard one for the American president, and very much similar to Afghanistan, the involvement lasted way beyond the original plans.
To topple a dictator after he crossed the “red line” was easy to justify in the years just after the collapse of the soviet union. There was no major threat on America and it enjoyed an unprecedented political power and economic blossom. Saddam chose to invade Kuwait in the worst possible time for him. The Arab world was united against him, Europe and America joined forced to attack him, and the success was absolute.
George W. Bush leveraged that success, accompanied by America’s anger and bleeding hearts after 9\11, to attack two countries that their involvement in those events is questionable.
And now, with a fresh memory of a dragging war and struggling economy, Obama’s hesitation towards launching another adventure far from the shores of the east coast looks to be understandable to some people. The impression is that Obama does not feel that America is united behind the idea to strike Assad at this point of a long economic recovery but anger is due to be shown, this is the reason of Obama’s approach to the Congress, although he is no obligated to do so.
Will he decide to attack or not, we witness another proof that domestic political issues and past experience can tremendously effect a decision that might save many lives.
