Sleight Of Arms
March 13, 2012 by Ben Crystal
That’s right, kiddies. While we’ve been watching the Democrats run through their deliberately distracting rhetorical gymnastics, the Israelis, the Syrians, the Iranians and a handful of the Islamofascist terrorist groups funded by the latter two nations are one spooked camel away from all-out war.
Hundreds of rockets have rained down on Israel, which has routinely responded by dropping planeloads of ordinance on warrens of adherents to the “religion of peace.” Behind the Muslim missiles stand those redoubtable godfathers of Islamofascist terrorism: Iran and Syria (not to mention the Russians and the Red Chinese). Behind the Israeli air assaults stands the United States. Oh, joy! Another proxy war is in the offing.
Unless it isn’t.
While Syria devotes time and resources to the terrorists who murder Israelis, the reality is that the Syrians are fairly consumed by their increasingly nasty intramural squabble. Iran, however, seems perfectly willing to shake its fists at Israel and, by extension, us. The problem is that should the Iranians decide to put their children where their blowholes are, a war between Iran and Israel combined with the usual hijinks that engulf the Mideast would likely conflate into a global shooting war. Such a war would put the entire planet a hair’s breadth from nuclear conflagration, especially considering the Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons and Islamofascists’ general tendency to demonstrate the same restraint as Michael Moore at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Amid this theater of the armed and absurd, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta acknowledged last week during testimony in front of the Senate that the Administration of President Barack Obama does not think it requires Congressional approval to involve the United States in a shooting war.
“…our goal would be to seek international permission. And we would come to the Congress and inform you and determine how best to approach this…”
While Panetta’s admission was hardly groundbreaking — Obama has already made it clear that he believes himself to be above trivialities such as Constitutional dictates and the separation of powers — the timing is worth noting. Of late, the Democrats have been pressing the idea that the Republicans are pushing them toward war. But Panetta’s statement that Obama neither needs nor cares about Congressional approval belies their halfhearted protests.
Despite — or perhaps because of — the Democrat’s ludicrous attempts to make their sock puppet Sandra Fluke the story of the season, Obama is struggling as November approaches. The newest polls show him losing to Mitt Romney, his approval numbers are horrendous, and his intended centerpiece of his legacy (Obamacare) is less popular than a bar of soap in an Occupy Wall Street squatters’ camp. And the Democrats — defined by hypocrisy as they are — would gladly commit the Nation to war if they thought it might rescue Obama’s electoral hopes.
If Israel wants to knock its Islamofascist irritants down a peg or two, it’s welcome to it. I might even suggest that it’s demonstrated impressive restraint, given the circumstances. But Obama campaigned on opposition to costly wars. To mire us in another would take him to a new low, especially considering the cuts he’s made to our military. If we’re going to avoid joining him, we should — we must — see past the distractions.
–Ben Crystal
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