If you find this boring, please delete...
Peter Wu & Others
11 September 2013
Peter Wu : That’s right, I am about to get onto my hobby-horse – politics.
Dominating the
headline in recent days is
Like Saddam Hussain, the Syrian government is probably saying that they were using a bit of insecticide to get rid of some low-lives and unwanted insects!
As in the past, the
three cheer-leaders for military response are the
Interestingly though, none of these countries are terribly gung-ho about military action.
The UK has already decided it won’t be part of any ‘coalition’ to teach President Assad a lesson, leaving the US to go alone should it decide to fire a few rockets and fire-crackers at Syria.
The question is: why such luke-warm enthusiasm to take part in the coalition to punish the Assad regime? Are they not supposed to be allies?
The answer to this is simple: after the world has been blatantly lied to – and bulldozed to join the coalition of the ‘willing’ by the Bush Administration in the last invasion of Iraq, people have wised up to it.
War costs money.
War causes casualties.
War destabilizes the affected countries.
War destroys.
War can backfire because the people you hit can hit back at you too.
All this is not helped by the total lack of credibility of the US government in how it clandestinely spies on its own citizens and allies alike, all in the name of ‘national security’.
Would you like to be peer at through a peep hole when you are having a shower?
When the Pentagon has resorted to rationing the Biro ball-pens to save money and penny-pinching on almost everything else, I really wonder if the US has the stomach and the budget to wage a war – albeit a limited one, on a regime which on balance, is the lesser of the two evils.
Right now, I don’t want to be in the shoes of President Obama who is caught between a rock and a hard place.
Look at the noticeable presence of grey hair in his TV appearance last week. Isn’t that telling?
Stella
Tse : Pardon
my language: for Obama: damned if you do, damned if you don't; I feel bad for
him and the Americans who is now left with dealing with the mess in
Bob Choi : Peter, your writing is never boring.
In fact, it's quite entertaining.
I'd throw in my two
bits by suggesting that Obama could save a lot of money and reduce the
political risk to near-zero if he would simply send Sylvestor Stallone (Mr
Rambo) and the Iron Man and G.I. Joe into
I bet these American
heroes can accomplish their mission within 2 hours after they land on
If not... well, they can always have a sequel!
Dr. Hon : Well, Peter, we always welcome Pulitzer level observations from our NMC political analyst!
The outcome of our
votes in the Parliament on punishing
It
also shows that, if given the chance,
And now following our example, Obama has decided to put the matter of Syrian intervention to the vote in Congress.
This
is welcoming news.Cameron's mistake is he ignored the lessons of
He spoke well enough, certainly eclipsing Ed Miliband from the opposition.
But such was the
damage done to public trust by the war in
It was staggering
that the government did not intend to publish the attorney-general’s full
advice on the legality of military action, after all that had happened over
What was released was just a vague letter from the joint intelligence committee.
It was not good enough!
If we are going to war, the public must be told the facts!
Our government needs to prove to us that they have solid evidence, it might mean things being talked about that the government does not normally like to release.
Lord West, formerly the first sea lord and a chief of defence intelligence put it well in the House of Lords debate. He said, "presidents and prime ministers think they can have clinical little military strikes and keep control of things but you cannot..... once you start these things there is the law of unintended consequences."It was the fear of those unintended consequences and Cameron’s failure to provide adequate reassurances, together with the belief that they were being pushed into a decision they would later regret, that led some MPs to rebel against the government.
Stella Tse : People are now saying that Obama is taking a huge risk by going to Congress to ask for approval.
I think Cameron, Obama, etc. are now realizing that they do not want to make sacrifices anymore for peace anymore.
Are they being selfish, lacking the courage, or simply tired of doing the 'right thing'?