When is a red line more of a grey area?

[kandrathe]

This really upsets me. It makes the president look like a bumbling fool - sorry to say - that lacks the fervor of his supposed convictions. Of course the reality is that after what happened in Egypt/Libya, America does not want to waste it's time in another war in which we have a country we helped just turn around and burn our flag immediately after.

Well, it takes a bit more than an old flag burning or other insult to push me there. It's one thing to put your own life on the line to defend your own honor or dignity, but quite another to commit the lives of other peoples children. When people are insensitive, brutish, crude or abusive, it reveals more about them, than those they are berating.

If I had my druthers, I'd say let them fight their own wars as we did in our country, but because of the statement Obama made about crossing the "red line," I feel we are obligated to help now with the burden of proof exposed! If we do not react after that big hoopla of a press conference, then what are we saying to the rest of the world?

Two things. Either, we are more bark than bite, or we are being more careful before getting involved in yet another middle east conflict with no overwhelming national interest.

It reminds me... I used to have the scariest dog growing up. She had two "alert" modes -- one when she just wanted to let us know that there was a stranger near so she'd bark, and in the second one she'd go silent when she was protecting us. Many times we'd rescue a harried salesman, tax assessor, or local minister pinned between our screen door, and the entry door with a 250 lb coal black dog looking them square in the face just making a low growling noise. So, I don't mind a little bit of bark (to tell them to use a little common sense), but these ultimatums can make us look real foolish. I always liked the symbolic gesture of putting 1 to 3 carrier strike groups off the coast performing training maneuvers. It's also much easier to get a little eyes on target intelligence, as well as bringing in the best of signal intelligence.

If Obama does not act, then I would question his leadership abilities because his inaction in this matter after what he swore to us, Syria, and the world is unforgivable, and other countries will exploit this "weak" president, which to me is completely intolerable! I sincerely hope this administration is only biding its time until a solution presents itself and then jumps at the first sign of action and takes it because if they do not, I fear this will spell poor relations with... well with the rest of the world! And if this administration waits too long, the situation will be just as bad!

I think his problem is that he doesn't really lead, he has a coalition of advisers and his fractured positions reflect the one he listened to the most that day. More likely this administration is looking for the narrow road of looking tough without having to get into a fight. It works until they call your bluff... Bluff blown, and so now what?

Don't get me wrong, America is in an extremely unfavorable position here; if we help the rebels and they turn out to be Al Qaeda (which is a very real possibility), then we just made the situation WORSE... but IMO doing nothing after what was said is unforgivable and would just show how pathetic this administration really is at foreign affairs, which to me is the far worse option.

The dominant opposition is the Muslim Brotherhood, led by Mohammad Riad al-Shaqfeh. So, yes, militant Islamist. Russia is meeting with them, so it might be that this will be the dominant political force to emerge. They had counted on Iran to back them in an uprising about 20 years ago, but Iran back Assad, and alienate the MB in Syria. They may be closer to MB in Egypt. http://carnegie-mec.org/publications/?fa=48370

EDIT: And that reminds me, with the situation that occurred in Korea, we all know Kim was posturing, however if that had happened on the Bushs' watch, Regan, possibly Carter's or Clintons - i.e. Korea loading nukes to it's missile facilities on the beaches and pointing them toward us - these other presidents would have sent war ships out to the Korea to say, "are you seriously going to fuck with us?" What did the Obama administration do? Offered aid. I'm all for peace, but this president is becoming the world's pushover.

It's not the first time we've responded to DPRK's tantrums with fuel and food aid. Bad behavior is how they get our attention now, because it works.

N.Korea is a fly on the wall compared to other great nations and if N.Korea was allowed to point missiles at our great nation without any kind of display of military might from us, then again, what does this say to other nations? You don't hear about this in the American media, but I'm sure there's talk in other countries about the pushover American president.

We don't hear hardly anything in the US media. I actually believe there are some in our military/political establishment who'd like to see DPRK fire their fledgling missile. We've come along, long, long way down the anti-missile missile technologies, so I believe we'd really like to show them (and China, and Russia) how impotent missiles have become. We've given all our friends the new stuff making them pretty safe from the low tech stuff of the 2nd and 3rd tier belligerent states.

And the handling of the US Consulate attack in Libya? Sorry, I'm ranting. I voted for Obama because I wanted to see change; I just wish he had more of an iron fist!

What is a shame there is the administrations total lack of transparency even when the veil of secrecy had been entirely shattered. I didn't vote for Obama because I didn't think he had enough experience (or John McCain cuz he's just crazy), but I'd rather not see another "tough guy" in the Whitehouse. I'm more in favor of us having a pleasant "smart guy". Where Obama shined lately was in his passionate speeches related to the Boston bombing. He's a great orator, and he is smart and a quick learner. But, it takes more than that to run this country and in fact, good orator is more of a "nice to have" feature, but not as crucial as wisdom and experience.