Patrick Regan, "Syria Strike Would Put Peace Further Out of Reach": Comparing Bashar al-Assad With George W. Bush

There can be no mistaking CNN's agenda.

On Monday, CNN published an absurd online opinion piece entitled "A U.S. strike would be self-wounding" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/09/kapil-komireddi-us-strike-would-be-self.html) by someone named Kapil Komireddi, who claimed that there was an "absence of conclusive evidence linking the Assad regime" to the August 21 sarin attack that killed almost 1,500 Syrian civilians on the outskirts of Damascus. Yes, this is the same claim being being made by Vladimir Putin.

Today, CNN is back with an equally ridiculous opinion piece entitled "Syria strike would put peace further out of reach" (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/05/opinion/regan-intervening-in-civil-wars/index.html?hpt=hp_c1) by Patrick Regan, "a professor of peace studies and political science at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies." The premise of Regan's essay is that a "significant amount of research, including my own, demonstrates that military interventions from outside states lengthen and make bloodier civil wars," and that the Obama should instead seek a negotiated settlement.

Regan begins:

"President Barack Obama faces a terrible choice in the coming days. It is whether to kill a number of Syrians who had nothing to do with a poison-gas massacre to show President Bashar al-Assad, who presumably did have something to do with it, that using chemicals weapons violates an international norm."

Well, unbeknownst to Regan, Obama also has the option of rendering Assad's military airfields unserviceable without killing anyone. Obama could also announce a non-lethal no-fly zone, intended to protect innocent civilians from further slaughter. Alternatively, Obama could strike the facilities responsible for Assad's chemical weapons manufacture, although this wound entail casualties among those who "presumably did have something to do with it," i.e. the August 21 massacre.

Regan continues:

"Few would doubt the importance of international agreements to regulate war, particularly those that safeguard the rights of citizens, such as bans on chemical weapons and torture. If al-Assad is responsible for the use of chemical weapons, he had full knowledge of the norms he was violating."

"If al-Assad is responsible for the use of chemical weapons"? "If"? Can this Notre Dame professor possibly be serious?

Regan next states:

"By way of comparison, President George W. Bush chose a policy that allowed torture in interrogations with full knowledge that it was outlawed by agreements to which the United States was a signatory. He made a strategic choice in the face of a threat to national security. Both are abhorrent actions on the part of national leaders, both taken for fundamentally the same reasons."

Just a moment, professor. Are you actually suggesting that non-lethal waterboarding, "abhorrent" as it may be, undertaken to locate Osama bin Laden and to prevent another 9/11 attack, can be compared with a sarin gas attack that killed almost 1,500 innocent civilians? Did I miss something here?

Excuse me as I reach for my airsickness bag.

Kapil Komireddi, "A U.S. Strike Would Be Self-Wounding": Whom Is CNN Seeking to Delude?

In an opinion piece entitled "A U.S. strike would be self-wounding" (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/02/opinion/komireddi-syria/index.html?hpt=hp_c1), which is currently receiving top online billing from CNN, Kapil Komireddi (Who is this joker person?) informs us:

"So what will the United States do the next time chemical weapons are used in Syria? More than 1,000 deaths are prompting the United States -- despite the absence of conclusive evidence linking the Assad regime to the crime -- to intervene."

Absence of conclusive evidence? Yeah, right.

On the other hand, Russian President Putin is also claiming that it would have been "utter nonsense" for Assad to use chemical weapons (see: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-utter-nonsense-assad-chemical-weapons-104514783.html), and we all know that there is no one more credible than good old Vladimir . . .

What are we being told by the US government? As stated in "Government Assessment of the Syrian Government’s Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21, 2013" (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/30/government-assessment-syrian-government-s-use-chemical-weapons-august-21) issued by the White House (my emphasis in red):

"A large body of independent sources indicates that a chemical weapons attack took place in the Damascus suburbs on August 21. In addition to U.S. intelligence information, there are accounts from international and Syrian medical personnel; videos; witness accounts; thousands of social media reports from at least 12 different locations in the Damascus area; journalist accounts; and reports from highly credible nongovernmental organizations.

A preliminary U.S. government assessment determined that 1,429 people were killed in the chemical weapons attack, including at least 426 children, though this assessment will certainly evolve as we obtain more information.

We assess with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out the chemical weapons attack against opposition elements in the Damascus suburbs on August 21. We assess that the scenario in which the opposition executed the attack on August 21 is highly unlikely. The body of information used to make this assessment includes intelligence pertaining to the regime’s preparations for this attack and its means of delivery, multiple streams of intelligence about the attack itself and its effect, our post-attack observations, and the differences between the capabilities of the regime and the opposition. Our high confidence assessment is the strongest position that the U.S. Intelligence Community can take short of confirmation. We will continue to seek additional information to close gaps in our understanding of what took place."

Komireddi would have us believe that there is serious reason for doubt whether the Assad regime was responsible for this attack on the rebel-controlled outskirts of Damascus? Perhaps he would also have us believe in Santa Claus.

The real question which we should be asking ourselves: Why is CNN busy spreading this horse manure?