Another Sunday, another week where we've got John McCain beating the war drums for us to use military intervention in yet another country, this time, Syria.
From The Hill -- McCain says U.S. should consider use of military action against Syria’s regime:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Sunday called on the United States to consider military action in Syria, where president Bashir al-Assad’s regime has used violence against anti-government protesters seeking democratic reforms.
“Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what practical military options might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria,” said McCain, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.
“The Assad regime has spilled too much blood to stay in power. Its days are numbered, but it will use those days to murder more of its own people,” he said. “In this way, there is no moral distinction whatsoever between the case of Syria and that of Libya. The question is, what can be done about it?”
“The Assad regime should not assume that it can get away with mass murder,” he added. “Qaddafi made that mistake, and it cost him everything." [...]
Speaking Sunday, McCain said that in Syria, there were “growing calls among the opposition for some kind of foreign military intervention.”
McCain's statements represent a shift for the senator. In April, he had downplayed comparisons between the then ongoing-Libyan NATO campaign and the possibility of action in Syria.
"I don't see a scenario right now or anytime in the near future where the injection of U.S. or NATO military action would in any way beneficially help the situation, I'm sorry to say," McCain had said regarding Syria.
McCain was asked about this on ABC's This Week where he softened his stance ever so slightly with host Christiane Amanpour and spent the better part of his time attacking President Obama for not being more aggressive in Libya rather than answering her question about Syria:
AMANPOUR: Let me ask you, Senator McCain, when you hear this debate now about how war might be conducted in the future, and you look around yourself, next door in Syria, for instance, should the United States do what they successfully supported in Libya? Should Syria have the sort of NATO treatment?
MCCAIN: Well, first of all, let me just point out that if we had an imposed a no-fly zone, if we had used the full weight of American airpower, we would not have -- this conflict would've not been prolonged as long as it -- it has. But that's -- that's over.
But we really need to provide medical help for the Libyans. We need to get these militias consolidated under the transition national council, or there's going to be a big problem. We have to, from human rights standpoint, see that prisoners are treated well. And I think that those things are what we can focus on.
I don't think that airpower would work in many other places. I think this was a unique situation. By the way, no British or French person died, either, and they led, and we followed.
But I -- I think that Syria cannot be allowed to continue to slaughter its own citizens indefinitely. Now, the Arab League foreign ministers are going to Damascus and make demands, which Assad will not agree to. So this is a step-by-step process. But I would not completely rule out actions to prevent over time Bashar Assad from continuing to slaughter his own people.
AMANPOUR: Well, you raised some very interesting questions which we'll obviously look at to see where that goes.
After seeing the way Republicans have reacted to our actions in Libya, I'm quite sure no matter what the Obama administration decides to do or not do about how the Syrian government is treating their people, they'll end up carping about it since their foreign policy for the last couple of years seems to be, whatever Obama does, we're against it.
Heaven forbid any of them might consider the option of not propping up these dictators in the first place instead of waging war continually as McCain would like to see us continue to do. And McCain should never be allowed on the air to talk about Libya without being asked about his double speak on that issue which I wrote about here -- After Sucking Up to Gaddafi, McCain and Lieberman Were Happy to Call for His Head.
