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Jewish World Review
April 30, 2013/ 20 Iyar, 5773
Of Red Lines, Game Changers and U.S. Credibility
By
Bernard Goldberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
If the Syrian regime ever uses chemical weapons on its own people, the president said, then it will have crossed a "red line;" using chemical weapons is a "game-changer, he said." The implication was clear: If Syria crossed that bright line, the United States would not tolerate it. We would take action. Military action, presumably.
It's a safe bet the president wishes he had never uttered those words.
In a letter to Congress, the White House says, "Our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically, the chemical agent sarin."
That is not the kind of information the White House wanted to make public. But knowing word would leak either from intelligence sources in this country or overseas, they had to get out ahead of the story. But this raises a crucial question: what now?
The U.S. can't bomb the facility housing those weapons in Syria. That would cause the very calamity we're trying to prevent. It can't invade Syria — no one's for that. The president can try to lead a coalition of friendly nations to … do what? We could arm the rebels we trust — and pray the weapons don't get into the hands of the rebels we don't trust, like al-Qaeda.
Pundits on cable TV can mouth off about anything and it doesn't really matter all that much, not in the real world anyway. But presidents don't have such luxury. Words have meaning, and implications. Last August President Obama said there would be "enormous consequences" if Syria used chemical weapons. Last Friday he said something quite different, that any response would be a "long term proposition. This is not going to be something that is solved easily, overnight."
If the United States does nothing in Syria, why should Iran take Mr. Obama's words seriously when he says he will not allow the mullahs over there to possess a nuclear bomb? Why should North Korea take us seriously? Why should any country, friend or foe, count on what we say?
One concern at the White House, a legitimate one, is that the intelligence on Syria's supposed use of sarin gas may be wrong. One senior U.S. defense official told reporters , "We have seen very bad movies before" — a reference to the "slam dunk" intelligence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
The president, understandably, doesn't want to make a similar mistake in Syria. A White House official told reporters that, "Given our own history with intelligence assessments, including intelligence assessments related to weapons of mass destruction, it's very important that we are able to establish this with certainty and that we are able to present information in a way that is airtight."
But what if the U.S. can't prove its case with that high degree of certainty? Can the president say the red line wasn't crossed? If he does, that would be the real game changer — as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Mr. Obama's promises would carry little weight. America would be one more casualty in Syria's civil war.
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JWR contributor Bernard Goldberg, the television news reporter and author of several bestselling books, among them, Bias, a New York Times number one bestseller about how the media distort the news. He is widely seen as one of the most original writers and thinkers in broadcast journalism. Mr. Goldberg covered stories all over the world for CBS News and has won 10 Emmy awards for excellence in journalism. He now reports for the widely acclaimed HBO broadcast Real Sports.
He is a graduate of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey and a member of the school's Hall of Distinguished Alumni and proprietor of BernardGoldberg.com.
Previously:
• 04/23/13: The Boston Marathon Bombings and the Importance of Getting the Story Right
• 04/15/13: Media Ignore Mass Murder Trial
• 04/09/13: Obama Compliments a Woman; Feminists Offended
• 04/04/13: When the Government Goes Bankrupt
• 03/18/13: Don't Blame Him --- He's Only the President
• 03/12/13: Sun Still Rises After Sequester So Prez Comes Up With Plan B To Insure Hardship
• 03/11/13: A President We Can't Be Proud Of
• 03/05/13: New Poll: Nation on Wrong Track . . . So Which Party Gets the Blame?
• 02/26/13: A President Who Is Rooting for Chaos
• 02/22/13: Obama: The World Is About to End . . . (Or Not)
• 02/19/13: Rubio Reaches for Water --- Crime of the Century
• 02/13/13: Drones, Double Standards and the So-Called Mainstream Media
• 02/06/13: One Small Step for Man, One Giant Step for Nut Jobs
• 01/30/13: Obama and Fox: Here We Go Again
• 01/25/13: CBS News Political Director to Barack Obama: Destroy the GOP
• 01/21/13: Just a Thought . . .
• 01/15/13: Al Gore is No Run of the Mill Hypocrite
• 01/14/13: The High Cost of Obama's America
• 01/08/13: Another Reason Libs Make Me Laugh
• 01/07/13: Al Gore Hates Oil But Loves Oil Money
• 12/31/12: Memo to GOP: Make Obama Own the Mess He's Created
• 12/24/12: GOP In More Trouble Than They Probably Know
• 12/18/12: Taking on Guns Will Be the Easy Part
• 12/17/12: When Obama's Words Mean Nothing
• 12/10/12: Do You Believe in Magic?
• 12/04/12: Obama and the Dolts Deserve Each Other
• 11/27/12: When the Ends Justify the Meanness
• 11/20/12: Our Mesmerizer-in-Chief
• 11/19/12: This Pretty Much Sums It Up . . .
• 11/12/12: Santa Claus and the GOP Civil War
• 11/07/12: Obama Wins . . . and Loses
• 11/01/12: Out on a Limb, Predicting A Big Victory For . . .
• 11/01/12: Should Mitt Talk to Bill?
• 10/30/12: Really Dumb Conservatives . . .
• 10/23/12: Debate #3: How Much Does Foreign Policy Matter If You Can't Find a Job?
• 10/22/12: When Conservatives Are As Dopey as Liberals . . .
• 10/19/12: Journalists' Who Don't Even Try to Hide Their Bias
• 10/17/12: Obama Stopped the Bleeding --- But Was That Enough to Change the Momentum?
• 10/15/12: No Winner in the Debate --- But Maybe a Loser
• 10/08/12: The October Surprise
• 10/04/12: Civil War in the GOP Could Go Nuclear on Nov 7
• 10/01/12: Even If He Wins, Obama Will Lose
• 09/27/12: Obama Picks Up a Crucial Demographic
• 09/26/12: If Obama Thinks He Inherited a Mess Four Years Ago . . .
• 09/24/12: A Good Way to Kill Free Speech
• 08/30/12: Facts I Have Uncovered About the Real Mitt Romney
• 08/23/12: Hope and Change, R.I.P.s
• 08/16/12: Who's Smarter: Joe Biden or Yogi Berra?
• 08/13/12: His Silence Makes Him Complicit
• 08/07/12: Did You Know that Harry Reid Got Rich Pimping Out HOs?
• 08/02/12: Like Birds on a Telephone Wire
• 07/30/12: What Me Worry? YES!
• 07/26/27: The Mystery Continues --- A Tale of Two Polls
• 07/16/27: We've Set a Low Bar for 'Courage'
• 07/11/27: Will Class Warfare Work?
• 07/09/27: A Brave New World
• 07/02/27: Now the Fun Really Starts
• 06/19/27: You Can't Make This Stuff Up . . .
• 06/19/12: I Would Have Fired Him Before He Got Back to the Office
• 06/12/12: Time to Crush the Myth about Gender Pay Inequality
• 06/06/12: The Desperate Campaign of Barack Obama
• 06/01/12: Hey Fatso! Listen Up!
• 05/25/12: Going After the Stupid Vote
• 05/22/12: The X Factor(s)!
• 05/15/12: Obama Has a Halo; Newsweek Has No Shame
• 05/10/12: Authoritarians on Campus
• 05/08/12: Obama's Path to Victory: Divide and Conquer
• 05/01/12: President Cool Meets Reality
• 04/25/12: Why Media Bias Matters
• 04/17/12: NYT: At It Again
• 04/13/12: Kissing up to the Rev. Al
• 04/10/12: This Just In: War Breaks Out --- Thank You, Lord
• 04/03/12: In Cold Blood?
• 03/27/12: Trayvon Martin and Media Hypocrisy
• 03/26/12: Time to Go, Rick
• 03/22/12: Obama's Mantra: Don't Blame Me
• 03/19/12: The U.N. Human Rights Council --- and other Jokes
• 03/13/12: Bias in the News: Blame it on Their Zip Code
• 03/06/12: Thank Heaven for Rich People --- a Second Look
• 02/29/12: Some Free Advice for the Republican Field
• 02/28/12: Do We Have a Right to Lie?
• 02/16/12: Can Obama Win Re-Election by Promising Free Stuff?
• 02/06/12: The 5 Stages of Mitt
• 02/02/12: Florida Has Spoken; Cue the Fat Lady
• 01/30/12: The Other Global Warming Story
• 01/26/12: They See Racists Everywhere . . .
• 01/24/12: The Arrogant and Clueless Mainstream Media
• 01/23/12: Gingrich Wins SC --- Media Help Big Time
• 01/18/12: A New Entry for 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America
• 01/12/12: The Dream Ticket Could Be a Conservative Nightmare
• 01/11/12: Now 'Anybody But Romney' Has a Name
• 12/30/11: I Have a Confession to Make . . .
• 12/27/11: Know When to Hold 'em and Know When to Fold 'em
• 12/20/11: NBC News, the KKK and the State of Journalism
• 12/19/11: Mitt and Newt: Two Rich Guys Arguing Over Money
• 12/13/11: Donald Trump Is the Greatest; Just Ask Him
• 12/12/11: Rob Peter to Pay Paul: Bad Economics! Good Politics?
• 12/07/11: Yeah . . . and Fish Don't Know They're Wet, Either
• 12/06/11: Did the Media Play Fair with Herman Cain?
• 12/05/11: Obama to Blue-Collar America: Adios!
• 11/29/11: We Can Stop the Crazy Train Before It Gets to Greece
• 11/22/11: Who Can Beat Obama?
• 11/15/11: The Dumbest Media Question I've Ever Heard
• 11/09/11: What If Herman Cain Did It?
• 11/08/11: What If Herman Cain Were a Lib?
• 11/02/11: Who Can Beat Obama?
• 11/01/11: We're Approaching the Tipping Point
• 10/25/11: A Response to the Angry Purists
• 10/18/11: They're Waiting for Reagan to Hit the Campaign Trail
• 10/12/11: Read This!!! --- But Only If You Have Nothing Better To Do
• 10/04/11: Can Obama Win Re-Election?
• 09/27/11: It's NOT the Economy Stupid, It's Theology
• 09/20/11: Bad News on the Doorstep
• 09/09/11: Hypocrisy!
• 09/06/11: Back to the Future
• 08/24/11: Hillary vs. Obama in 2012? It'll Never Happen --- I Don't Think
• 08/22/11: Warning: Conservatives May Be Harmful to Your Mental Health
• 08/17/11: Warren Buffett, Coddled Billionaire
• 08/11/11: Too Much Balance in the Media?
• 08/04/11: All Aboard the Crazy Train
• 08/01/11: Liberal Hate Speech
• 07/25/11: With All Due Respect, Go Fly a Kite
• 07/20/11: Who Is A ‘Natural Born Citizen’?
• 07/18/11: Guess Who's Not Paying Their Fair Share
• 07/12/11: Against More Taxes? You May Be a Terrorist!
• 07/11/11: Casey Anthony: The TV Show
• 07/06/11: Standards and Double Standards at MSNBC
• 06/29/11: Is Jon Stewart A Racist?
• 06/21/11: Let's Play the Race Card --- Just for Fun Of Course
• 06/20/11: Sarah Palin and Weiner's Weiner
• 06/03/11: Memo to GOP: Turn Mr. Obama into Mr. Yesterday
• 05/20/11: I Get Letters From People Who Should Be Locked Up
• 05/09/11: Is ‘Torture’ Ever Justified?
• 05/02/11: The Promiscuous Use of the R Word
• 04/19/11: The Man Behind the Million Dollar Smile
• 04/12/11: What's the Difference Between Libs in Politics and Libs in the Media?
• 04/08/11: An Idea Whose Time Has Come — and Gone
• 03/28/11: The Pundits Are Driving Me Crazy --- And You Thought Qadaffi Is Nuts
• 03/14/11: No Liberal Bias at NPR — Just Ask NPR
• 03/10/11: The media's frustration
• 03/01/11: Progressives Lost in Time . . .
• 02/23/11: The Lamestreams Strike Again --- This Time in Madison
• 02/03/11: You MUST Own a Gun --- Or Else!
• 01/20/11: It Was Horrible, I tell you … HORRIBLE!
• 01/11/11: Here We Go Again . . .
• 01/06/11: You Go, Oprah
• 12/28/10: A Year-Ender --- The MSM and Obama's Fall from Grace
• 12/14/10: Thank Heaven for Rich People
• 12/02/10: The Phony Nobility of Wikileaks
© 2011, Bernard Goldberg
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