"The newly assertive Egyptian military and the civilian transitional government in Egypt are helping make President Obama's life difficult. Likely it was Egypt that blocked the Arab League from calling for intervention against the Syrian regime despite its condemnation of Damascus for using chemical weapons.
"Egyptian foreign minister Nabil Fahmy rejected a Western strike on Syria. He said that no country could attack another save in self-defense or in the case of a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force.
Members of Congress in search for more lucid arguments to take to the House and Senate, would do well to pay attention to the bill of particulars that Richard Falk has drawn up to remind us that the U.S. does not enter this discussion with clean hands.
"The U.S. Government rains drone missiles on civilian human targets anywhere in the world, continues to operate Guantanamo in the face of universal condemnation, whitewashed Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and the torture memos, committed aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan, and invests billions to sustain its unlawful global surveillance capabilities.
"Still, it has the audacity to lecture the world about 'norm enforcement' in the wake of the chemical weapons attack in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus. Someone should remind President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry that credibility with respect to international law begins at home and ends at the United Nations."
For eloquence and passion in delivery, opponents of an attack against Syria will find an experienced model in the presentation below by British parliamentarian George Galloway made against David Cameron's request for support for a U.S.-British attack on Syria.
Meanwhile, for the next 10 days, the world, along with President Obama, must wait for a congressional decision on what the President is certain was a Syrian chemical weapon attack.
*The picture above, of President Obama, was taken during his Saturday press event. It is by Jim Watson for AFP.
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