David Ignatius, "Obama Is Criticized for Right Result on Syria": A Mass Murderer Gets Off Scot-Free

In a Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Obama is criticized for right result on Syria" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-obama-is-criticized-for-right-result-on-syria/2013/09/18/b2a08acc-1ffb-11e3-b7d1-7153ad47b549_story.html?hpid=z2), David Ignatius would have us believe that although messy, Obama's Syria policy has yielded the "right result." Ignatius declares:

● "Russia has been drawn into a process of collecting and destroying Syria’s chemical arsenal."

● "The United Nations has taken new steps to affirm the international norm against the use of chemical weapons."

● "The United States and Russia have restarted their push for negotiations in Geneva toward a cease-fire and a political transition in Syria."

● "Amid all this diplomacy, Obama has pressed ahead with a covert program of training and assistance for the moderate Syrian rebel forces headed by Gen. Salim Idriss."

Sorry, David, but Russia doesn't need to do a thing, and its sole motivation is to protect a rogue client regime, while undermining US influence and interests. Since the Korean War, the United Nations has repeatedly demonstrated its impotence. There is no cease-fire or political transition on the horizon in Syria. Training in Jordan of a limited number of Idriss's rebel fighters without the supply of advanced weaponry or the imposition of a no-fly zone is not going to tip any "balance" - not in the fighting with Assad's forces and not in terms of leadership of the rebellion against Assad.

Ignatius's conclusion:

"He can propose what the country wants, succeed at it and still get hammered as a failure."

Oh, really. As stated otherwise by none other than US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power on Monday, Assad perpetrated the "largest chemical weapons attack in 25 years," killing nearly 1,500 civilians in a single morning, and has now been given responsibility by Obama for dismantling his regime's chemical weapons stockpile. Punishment? None. Credible sanctions if Assad fails to eliminate this stockpile? None.

Excuse me, but where is the "success"? America's overseas credibility and power of deterrence have been destroyed by Obama.

But more to the point, perhaps it's time for Ignatius to re-examine the settings of his moral compass. Obama has let a mass murderer get off scot-free.