The sloppy thinking of ‘no military solution’

[bemildred]

The War Party view of things ...

The epigram often connected to Barack Obama’s foreign policy is “don’t do stupid [stuff].” That’s inaccurate. The real mantra of this administration, enunciated over and over by the president and his top aides since he took office in 2009, is “there is no military solution.”

In the past four months alone, the president has said “there is no military solution” to justify his policy in three places where wars are underway: Iraq, Syria and Ukraine. Because there is no military solution in Iraq, the president has rejected his military commanders’ proposals to deploy U.S. Special Operations forces against the Islamic State. Because there is no military solution in Syria, he has refused to sanction strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. And because there is no military solution in Ukraine, he has turned aside the desperate pleas of its new president for supplies of U.S. weapons.

“I was elected to end wars, not to start them,” Obama said in an August 2013 news conference. “I’ve spent the last four and a half years doing everything I can to reduce our reliance on military power as a means of meeting our international obligations and protecting the American people.” That was immediately before he retreated from his plan to carry out punitive airstrikes in Syria in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons. “We’re not going to get a long-term military solution for that country,” he said.

In a speech at West Point in May, Obama tried to elevate his slogan to a doctrine. “To say that we have an interest in pursuing peace and freedom beyond our borders is not to say that every problem has a military solution,” he declared. “When crises arise that stir our conscience or push the world in a more dangerous direction but do not directly threaten us — then the threshold for military action must be higher.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jackson-diehl-the-sloppy-thinking-of-no-military-option/2014/12/07/8996eef6-7bd4-11e4-b821-503cc7efed9e_story.html

[VanillaRhapsody]

1. I like this...."when ALL you have is a hammer....every problem looks like a nail"

This is a man that DOES do nuance....that does understand the gray area that lies between black and white...This is a man that doesn't rely on his advisors to tell him what his positions on issues are.

[delrem]

2. hmmm,

Another 10 years in Afghanistan. Continued bombing of Pakistan. Renewed bombing of Iraq. New bombing of Syria. Funding and training "moderate rebels", arming them through "Friends of Syria" proxies, with an explicitly avowed aim toward regime change in Syria. Regime change via bombing and proxy "rag-tag rebel armies" in "we came, we saw, he died" (that was a joke, y'see) Libya. Continued bombings of Sudan, Somalia.

But the words, the words are so beautiful.

[bemildred]

4. "Just one more Friedman Unit."

They never give up, it's all they know.

[99th_Monkey]

3. I'm not sure what alternative reality you are subscribing to

Just because Obama hasn't strangled all the doves in DC with his bare hands on the WH lawn,
doesn't mean he's been some "anti-military" peace-freak. Good grief.

Check out the record, and get back to me if you're still unconvinced. HINT: Obama's is no Gandhi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/president-obama-warrior-in-chief.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[bemildred]

5. I assume you're addressing Mr. Diehl? nt

[99th_Monkey]

6. Ah, yes.

The author of the article posted in your OP. That person is who I was addressing my remarks to.
Please don't take it personally.

I guess I may have wrongly assumed (since you'd posted the article with no adverse commentary),
that you subscribed to the article's contents.

[bemildred]

7. No offense taken, but I often post stuff I don't agree with.

I consider Mr. Diehl a good window into what passes for thinking in Washington, DC and our ruling "elites"..

[quadrature]

8. remind me again...why Pres.Obama wanted to destabilize Syria...

OK, for Libya, now East Libya and West Libya,
those places are not much worse off
without Ghad Fly.

..............
I don't see an outcome
to work for, in Syria,
that is any way a good outcome.

[CJCRANE]

9. More neocon BS.

There are two unsupported assertions which have become accepted wisdom in Washington circles and the corporate media:

1) That it was a mistake to remove American troops from Iraq
2) That it was a mistake not to arm the "moderate" rebels earlier

I have yet to see a mainstream writer or pundit refute or even question these articles of faith held by the Washington consensus.

It's almost as though the MSM is a monolith that walks and talks in lockstep on certain issues...