Senators McCain and Graham are busy challenging the President Obama to be more proactive with the Assad regime, in Syria, as it relates to the possible use of chemical weapons during the civil war there. They remind us that the President has said the use of such weapons would be “a game changer.” The President, on the other hand, seems to be taking a more cautious approach. Who could blame him for not wanting to start another war looking for non-existent weapons of mass destruction?
Let’s remember that our Constitution gives the responsibility to declare war to Congress so the Senators are pushing in the wrong place when they try to push the President anyway. Of course many of our legislators would balk, as they should, at the cost of another war. Especially after shoving the sequester down our throats because we have a “spending problem.” It would be tough to authorize a war without clearly identifying how to pay for it.
Think about it though, if the President would just start something, the Congress would almost have to back him up before they worry about the fiscal issues. Think about all the spins they could hit us with in the run-up to the mid-term elections. The Congress could also blame the whole thing on the President which would be great political theater.
Seriously though, after the discovery of the horrific atrocities that were the holocaust, the world community said “never again.” Then there were the “killing fields” in Cambodia, and the genocide in Rwanda, and now the tragedy in the Sudan, just to name three (there are many more). So the Senators have a point when it comes to a world community response to the events in Syria, but shouldn’t we be debating that response in the context of the other mass killings that are also occurring around the world?
Of course, the real problem with such a discussion here in the United States of America is that such a debate would require our elected officials sitting down and actually talking to each other. They might even have to consider some sort of compromise if a funding mechanism were needed for any resulting actions. Sorry, I lost my head for a minute.
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