The President Wimps Out, Again

President Obama has once more run up the white flag in the war on terror. He dawdled for three years while the “Arab Spring,” a peaceful revolution against tyrants in Syria, Egypt and other nations in the Middle East, fizzled out because he did not have the intestinal fortitude to supply it with both moral and technical support.
Syria was the most egregious violator of human rights and the one nation most likely to topple its dictator. Syrian opposition dissidents as late as one year ago nearly defeated Bashar al-Assad’s military in the key provinces. Because Obama did nothing to assist them al-Assad dialed up the cruelty and began the wanton killing of civilians.
Once more Obama merely drew lines in the sand and issued threats that to cross them would bring a “harsh reaction.” The trouble with lines drawn in the sand is that they are easily wiped out and new ones drawn as necessary, which is exactly what Obama did. Assad thumbed his nose at Obama’s feckless threats and continued the killing including the use of chemical weapons.
Then last week it seemed as though Obama finally had enough and ordered the Defense Department to draw up plans to destroy key parts of Assad’s military, utilities and government structure by stand-off attacks which would not require boots-on-the-ground and imperil our troops.
Ah, but wait. In this case our president suddenly decided that he cannot act alone. He must have congressional approval. This from man who, in order to pass his expensive and unwanted social programs, has run roughshod over the checks and balances written into our Constitution. Now he wants to wait until Congress returns from its summer break, debates the pros and cons, and says Yea or Nay.
The effect of this irresponsible conduct was to give the Syrians two additional weeks in which to move personnel, munitions, tanks, planes literally out of harm’s way and develop plans to defend against our attack. If an Air Force Stealth bomber or a Navy F-18 is brought down, the fault is directly traceable to the Oval Office.
Why the three-year delay and the endless hemming and hawing? Remember this is a man who has given “Newspeak” in George Orwell’s novel “1984,” a modern interpretation. To Orwell, Newspeak was a tool to limit free thought and self-expression by a limiting and constantly shifting vocabulary. Does that concept sound familiar? Here are a few examples of Obama’s Newspeak:
Capt. Nidal Hasan killed 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in the name of jihad and as a “soldier of Allah.” However it remains officially classified as an act not of terrorism, but of “workplace violence.” Is Fort Hood a post office? International terror attacks are now termed “man-caused disasters.” Evacuation of personnel from embassies throughout the world because al Qaeda is not “finished” or “on the run” as Obama said in his 2013 State of the Union address, are now called “reductions in force.” Isn’t that the term any faceless, large corporation uses when it lays off workers?
For Mr. Obama, the word “Islamist” cannot be spoken lest we offend a Muslim. He may not like this war on terror with its accompanying unfortunate religious coloration, but it isn’t going away. His soothing speeches, soothing policies, “open hand,” and “mutual respect” have only served to embolden our enemies. If Obama is trying to send a message to Iran and North Korea in addition to Syria, the message has been received. It says “Barack Hussein Obama, WIMP.”