COWARDS, REDLINES AND OUTSOURCING

By Simon Fischler

The whole Arab world  (and even China!) is condemning Israel following its recent strikes on sensitive military hardware (read that as arms shipments from Iran) in Syria.

The fact that this condemnation is a blatant example of the “pot calling the kettle black” has not been noted in the press is somewhat distressing.

Israeli intel indicated the arms were either en-route, or soon to be dispatched, to Hezbollah (in Lebanon). Ultimately the arms would no doubt be used against the Syrians rebels fighting Assad, Hezbollah and Iran!

The most important quote to come out of the Arab world in condemnation of Israel’s actions was in a press release from the Arab League, in which League representatives called the airstrikes a “dangerous violation of an Arab state’s sovereignty.”

(Of course these Arab leaders had nothing to say when Syrian Army shells fell half a mile from my house, which has happened on more than one occasion!)

For almost three years the Sunni Arab world has called on America to intervene on behalf of the rebels and impart upon Iran that America still counts in the Middle East.

That request was effectively quashed by Barak Obama’s “Red Line” approach to Syria. Any real support of the insurgents by the US has been invisible, preceded by Obama’s series of “Red Line” remarks, such as “ … IF Assad uses chemical weapons, proven beyond a doubt, THEN …”

Short of actually gassing Obama, the evidence has been presented to the US prexy, but declared “inconclusive” and/or “Incomplete” each time. In other words, “THEN” has never arrived, according to Obama et al.

Hence Israel took matters into its own hands.

For a year Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights was tested by “accidental firing into Israel!” It was not the rebels pushing the IDF’s buttons, but forces of the Syrian Army and those loyal to Assad.

However, lately the amount of cross-border “accidental misfirings into Israel” by the Syrian Army has increased to the point that it’s absolutely ludicrous to call them “accidental.”

The fact that I had to drag all three of my half-awake children into a bomb shelter a few nights ago made this farce painfully clear -- at least to us on the Golan who live near the Syrian border.

What has also become painfully clear is that President Barak Obama has “redlined” himself into a corner he’s obviously afraid to, or unable to, come out of.

Everybody knows Assad has used chemical weapons on his own people. However, even if Obama were willing to make a forceful move, Congress has made it clear that they will prevent him from doing so with all of their power.

Everyone knows that the true violation of a nation’s sovereignty has been by Assad on Israel. (Let’s not even get into the fact that Assad has been violating the sovereignty of Lebanon for years!)

Plain and simple, Obama cannot handle Syria – either because Congress is unmanageable (for which George W. Bush’s duplicitous appeal for approval of the Iraq war can be blamed), or because he hasn’t the nerve.

Thus it has become obvious that the best way for Obama to get around Congress AND avoid the box he created for himself with the redlining nonsense has been to “outsource” the problem to Israel!

This pitiful lack of international nerve, diplomacy and statesmanship on the part of Obama must have FDR, Churchill and Truman fuming in their graves!  Apparently Obama should have asked for Congress’ permission to declare a “Red Line” against Syria!

Obama had better be careful now that he has yielded “The Syrian Problem” to Israel.

Israel doesn’t bother daring Arab countries to cross mythical lines.

Period.

WIMPY UNCLE OBAMA FAILS AGAIN

By Sig Demling

Barack Obama reminds me of a college classmate -- our only chum with a car in those dim, distant days. 

Wherever he happened to be driving, Pal Al would inevitably park his auto directly under a NO PARKING sign. 

Of course one of us sitting in the passenger seat would immediately call attention to the NO PARKING admonition. 

At that point, Pal Al would study the sign and swiftly reply to his listening audience, "But it doesn't say POSITIVELY."

While Pal Al would get a laugh out his perfect squelch, President Obama cannot be listed as a pal nor is he the least bit funny. 

Appalling? Yes.

A liar? For sure. 

Israel's deceptive enemy? It's sure looking that way; especially when you consider how he's boloxing up the Syrian situation beyond all redemption and reason.

For proof positive one only has to turn back the calendar to last December and review red line words from the White House vis-a-vis Syrian use of chemical weapons. 

The president, sounding more and more like a feeble Uncle Tom, described the use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad's government as "totally unacceptable."

(I can just imagine Assad's reply: "Oh, yeah, whaddya gonna do about it?)

What does Obama do about anything threatening democracies such as Israel or his darling United States? Nothing -- with a capital N. 

Next came another baloney-filled threat from Pennsylvania Avenue about drawing a red line if "we start to see a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized."

Yesseree, Bob, that red line was crossed last week by Assad's forces and even the American intelligence confirmed same.

So, the ball was whacked into the Commander In Chief's court and, typically, he made as if there was no ball at all. 

Red line? What red line? Did I once say something about a red line? 

Astonishingly, this goofball-posing-as-a-president went back on his word. It's as if he took Pal Al's line -- "Well, I didn't say POSITIVELY." 

What this does, naturally, is encourage every militant Islamist to disparagingly snicker (in Arabic, naturally), "This phony-baloney in the White House is all talk, no action."

More remarkably, even Obama's personal propaganda sheet, The New York Times, is getting antsy about this latter-day Uncle Tom. 

The erstwhile "newspaper of record" hired Daniel Byman to comment on the president's ever-mobile red line. Professor in the security studies program at Georgetown and research director at the Brookings Institution's Center for Mideast Policy, Byman points a finger squarely at the double-crossing chief executive.

"The administration's (December) ultimatum," Byman asserts, "now seems like cheap talk. It illustrates the risks of carelessly drawing red lines and issuing highly public threats that won't be enforced."

Give Assad credit for one thing; he sees right through Obama and has called his bluff, knowing that the president is as phony as a three-dollar bill. Speaking Syrian, Bashar must be saying to himself, "That man has no guts."

All of which means that Israel has to do America's work and that means cleaning out heavy-duty weaponry delivered by Iran and earmarked for Hezbollah. You don't even have to be as dense as Obama to realize what Hezbollah will target with the sophisticated rockets.

Israel cannot mess with red lines as if they're giant rubber bands. Nobody knows that better than Brigadier General (res.) Zvi Fogel, former chief of staff of the IDF Southern Command. Writing in Israel Hayom, General Fogel lays it on the line thusly:

"It has been proven that if Israel does not implement a policy of military deterrence in the face of enemy states, no one will do it for us.

"Strikes of this kind (against Syria) prompt a degree of fear that is central to our power of deterrence."

General Fogel doesn't mean maybe either. Obama equivocates -- moving his red line around like a child in a sandbox. The Europeans twiddle their thumbs, totally fearful of militant Islam. As always, Israel must carry the torch.