[Peace-discuss] Mark Weisbrot: If There's a Syria Diplomatic Deal, Thank Congressional Resistance to a New War

Tue Sep 10 19:32:08 UTC 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/10/syria-congress-resistance-war

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Weisbrot, CEPR <cepr at cepr.net>
Date: Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 1:34 PM
Subject: If There's a Syria Diplomatic Deal, Thank Congressional Resistance
to a New War
To: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

    [image: CEPR
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 If There's a Syria Diplomatic Deal, Thank Congressional Resistance to a
New War<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=bTGJPFOktlUNNkYNzDzj9E1oKveVRlFZ><http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2BuKwOzF3wXuCzRXtEhS0RE1oKveVRlFZ>

By Mark Weisbrot
------------------------------

 This article was published in *The Guardian* (UK) on September 10, 2013.
If anyone wants to reprint it, please include a link to the
original<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=zs5fRvbeFj2pYbYaLmDh%2FU1oKveVRlFZ>
.
------------------------------

President Obama has headed up a lobbying and public relations
blitzkrieg<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=6Ut7CuzBKk%2F95R%2Bw8Rd9Lk1oKveVRlFZ>for
bombing Syria that seems to surpass any legislative effort of his
presidency besides health care reform.  Why?

If Congress refuses to authorize Obama’s proposed bombing, it will be the
first time it stopped a president from going to war.  For those who want
the United States to be an empire, that is a scary thought.

These people are very worried about U.S. “credibility,” which is not the
credibility of a law-abiding government but that of a mafia boss to mete
out vigilante “enforcement of international norms” (they can’t say
“international law” -- as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon pointed
out<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Je6rwKRPTz6SXtsX9VQQJU1oKveVRlFZ>,
an attack on Syria would clearly be illegal). But allowing a congressional
vote has unleashed a swarm of debates, such as “should the U.S. be the
world’s policeman?” (itself an unfair analogy to millions of real police
officers who work to keep the peace and enforce laws fairly);  what exactly
are “U.S. interests” in another country’s sectarian civil war?; doesn’t
foreign military intervention generally make these conflicts worse?;  isn’t
diplomacy a better option for resolving what has become an international
conflict?;  and why should we believe our government when it makes
unsubstantiated
claims<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BZeGgIEFP%2F8PW9grlDdbj01oKveVRlFZ>about
reasons for a war?

Such challenges have been suppressed for 12 years, since 9/11
provided<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=anHfkoX646to3KpQMttMxU1oKveVRlFZ>a
powerful new pretext for what our government has done abroad for a
century.  But they have simmered uneasily among the public, and a sizeable
share of that public is now organized and putting the fear of mobilized
public opinion into their elected officials, including Congress and the
President.

This country has a powerful, politically diverse anti-war movement that is
flooding Congress with phone calls, letters, and visits.  You can
see<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=tJbfSvGPaCej9v5iCt3FVgGxBXaxi%2Bxe>the
impact of that movement in the media vote counts, now standing at
about
248 “No” or “Likely No” in the House of Representatives, versus 50 “Yes” or
“Likely Yes.”  A coalition of groups on the left, including the
8-million-member Moveon.org, has
mobilized<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qthnXaQ7qkRjmY78hMc7P01oKveVRlFZ>tens
of thousands of phone calls to Congress and anti-war vigils in 224
American cities.  On the right, the libertarian Campaign for Liberty and
allied groups have helped push Republicans into the "no" camp -- not just
with phone calls, but with threats of primary election challenges.

The fear among the undecided even includes Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican who previously had never met a war he
didn’t like. It was this fear, and unprecedented international
isolation<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=m90BOsAOJ0U7stcFxsLbmU1oKveVRlFZ>,
that spurred Obama to seek congressional backing.  Without such backing, a
war that went badly could have serious political repercussions; and the
chance of an unpredictable escalation of U.S. involvement is significant.
Although Obama said<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=4HeFxSFLUFrPWWf7PTd4G01oKveVRlFZ>on
Monday that he “hadn’t decided” whether he would go ahead anyway
without
congressional approval, that is bluff;  it would certainly bring
impeachment moves in the House – which could be quite unpleasant even if
the president were protected in the Senate.

The war party includes what one administration official told the *New York
Times* was “the 800-pound gorilla in the
room<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=S26lmXHCsET7flGEyCahjgGxBXaxi%2Bxe>”
– AIPAC (the powerful Israel lobby group).  That’s a lot of political
muscle for this war, but it’s a tough sell.  McClatchy News
reports<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1DdnwayhpndHNiIyCW3XLU1oKveVRlFZ>how
the administration’s argument is “riddled with inconsistencies and
hinges mainly on circumstantial evidence.”  Award-winning investigative
journalist Gareth Porter
shows<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5cIMMvLnFQB515kBpP7DJk1oKveVRlFZ>that

*“the Syria chemical warfare intelligence summary released by the Barack
Obama administration Aug. 30 did not represent an intelligence community
assessment” but appears to be “more politicised than the flawed 2002 Iraq
WMD estimate that the George W. Bush administration cited as part of the
justification for the invasion of Iraq.”*

Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson writes in the *New York
Times*that even the classified version shown to members of Congress
doesn’t
present<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=izBQPJvuY1m4AeQUQESpyk1oKveVRlFZ>any
of the underlying evidence.  People who were right about the Iraq War
are raising huge doubts about the administration’s case for war.

Obama said Monday that he was “not confident” that he would win this vote
in Congress – a stark admission of the new reality.  But by leading a
“full-court press” for the war, he has insulated himself from pro-war
establishment backlash if the Congress votes "no." He can say that he
tried, but the Congress would not support him.

The majority of Americans have long seen the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as
not worth fighting. But now the majority has elected leaders running
scared.  If that trend continues, millions of people who would otherwise be
killed by unjustified U.S. military intervention in the future could be
saved.

If there’s a diplomatic deal over Syria’s chemical weapons stocks, credit
the people who opposed a rush to war – including many members of the United
States Congress.
------------------------------

*See more of Mark Weisbrot's analysis of the Western Hemisphere at The
Americas Blog<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=TsDdcyuNdkcwI991oduWwE1oKveVRlFZ>.
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Mark Weisbrot<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=23kRP6XyGdTk6dU%2FEvLrYk1oKveVRlFZ>is
co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in
Washington, D.C. He is also president of Just Foreign
Policy<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=76g0dwc2NloVpzOdObo%2Brk1oKveVRlFZ>.

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