President Obama's Rubicon (Line In The Sand) Was Crossed By Syria's Bashar Al-Assad....

President Obama’s Rubicon (Line In The Sand) Has Been Crossed By Syria's Bashar Al-Assad…

If I remembered my Roman History correctly, Gaius Julius, commander of the Roman Legions, crossed the Rubicon River… breaching protocols, adhered to by former Roman Generals, by having armed soldiers on Roman soil… and signifying to the Roman Senate - whose members had a tendency to give up power in times when the Republic at large was facing danger- that the traditional Republican form of governance was in grave danger and probably at an end. This danger turned out to be the ushering in of a deity/dictator that gave us the colorful, bloodied Roman history of autocratic rule under the title of Caesar. Months ago, President Obama told Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-assad, that the line in the sand that he must not cross was Syria’s not using Chemical weapons (President Obama’s Rubicon) to quell the raging internal rebellion.

Just how I supported President Bush in like manner… I now have to do the same for President Obama. I take this stance, knowing that Vice President Biden once called for President Bush’s Impeachment when the latter took the posture that President Obama is now supporting. I will not be hypocritical, unlike many Democrats, and, sadly, some Republicans… the latter who would have supported a Republican President if he or she were evaluating the current facts.

Now, you ask why should President Obama respond with force - I hope it is not to save face due to his warning to Syria not to use Chemical weapons, but instead to tell and warn other countries and their leaders that they cannot and must not use those type of weapons on civilians. I have this resolve because if the world does not stand up to those who are evil enough to use these weapons - then the other bullies on the world stage will do so too.

Iran, who is rapidly figuring out how to let its own Nuclear Genie out of the bottle, is looking at the situation in Syria; Al Qaeda is looking too - not that anything that President Obama does in Syria would prevent them from using Chemical weapons, including those capable of mass destruction - only that any country that allowed Al Qaeda or any group to use these weapons from its soil must be severely punished; the North Koreans are looking too… knowing that if Basher al-assad is not punished… that they, along with the rest of the bad guys named, are going to have license to kill civilians indiscriminately, including non combatants, women and children.

We have seen the horrifying pictures of those who have succumbed to Chemical weapons and we remembered that in Japan, years ago, when one lunatic commanded his followers to disperse an odorless Chemical weapon, which killed dozens in the sub-way… bear this in mind when you read this blog and is thinking about the decision our President has to make.

I am not going to sugar-coat the decision that President Obama must make in deciding whether to go to war with Syria because going to war is fraught with danger. As I write this blog, it is being reported that Russia’s President Putin, an ally of Syria, is moving some of his submarine fleet into the Syrian theatre; both Syria and Iran are threatening to light Jerusalem aflame if the United States attack; and, any conflict can morph into a full blown war in the oil rich region - one may notice that since the pending war tidings that said oil prices are going through the roof.

We may decide to do nothing to Syria for its use of chemical weapons on its defenseless people, but again… we must take into consideration how bullies think… that we either take on the one (Bashar al-assad) now or take on the many (North Koreans, Al Qaeda‘s Jihadists, and the Iranians) later… incidentally, note that I am not saying that President Obama should not navigate the Constitutional rules (Congressional consent) to make this decision to go to war….

Years ago, down Fort McClellan in Alabama… during Army Basic Training, we were shown films on the graphic dangers of being exposed to Chemical weapons; these old movies on Chemical weapons affected and stayed with me… so much so that when I was on standby to go to the first Iraqi war and that there was a possibility that the late Saddam Hussein was going to use his Chemical weapons… I told my Army bud, Scott, that if I were exposed, while in combat, and his knowing that because of religious reasons that I could not kill myself… that he must take me out. Now, if I, a trained soldier, feared the pangs that accompany being exposed to these Chemical weapons… then what of the Syrian children?

To those of us who do not believe in pre-emptive strikes, like the one being contemplated by President Obama in Syria, not so much to prevent the Syrians since that they have already used these weapons - but to the other would-be world bad actors… who have access to these terrible chemical weapons... you yourselves have practiced such preemption when you took your respective Flu shots or when you ate your veggies, or exercised, all in all to fight off illnesses - so what makes a country different from you?