There is a great deal of hypocritical hand wringing going on right now amongst the left vis-a-vis Donald Trump’s decision to off a murderous terrorist.
Was the assassination of #Soleimani an act of war? It will certainly be read that way in Iran and across the Middle East. An epic turn of events in the world's most volatile region that may ensure Soleimanis influence even in death. My @newyorker analysis. https://t.co/ni9C3CCTIt
— Robin Wright (@wrightr) January 3, 2020
Then of course this flaming liar had to weigh in
"I am doubtful that ultimately it will prove to be the right thing," says former national security adviser Susan Rice about President Trump's decision to order a US airstrike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. https://t.co/47nkJMu14i pic.twitter.com/LLSdDNASzL
— CNN (@CNN) January 4, 2020
You’ve no doubt heard much more from the left, many crying about Congressional approval.
How soon they forget.
Let’s hark back to 2011. The Libyan regime was toppled almost solely by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They effectively killed Moammar Gaddafi. Did someone say Congressional approval?
ZERO REGARD FOR CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL
It’s long been established that Obama failed to secure a congressional declaration of war, as the constitution and Senator Obama’s understanding of it dictated; and that he violated the War Powers Resolution. It is nevertheless worth revisiting the subject given these new details about his thought process:Obama insists that he still had not made up his mind what to do when he returned to the Situation Room — that he was still considering doing nothing at all. A million people in Benghazi were waiting to find out whether they would live or die, and he honestly did not know. There were things the Pentagon might have said to deter him, for instance. “If somebody had said to me that we could not take out their air defense without putting our fliers at risk in a significant way; if the level of risk for our military personnel had been ratcheted up–that might have changed my decision,” says Obama. “Or if I did not feel Sarkozy or Cameron were far enough out there to follow through. Or if I did not think we could get a U.N resolution passed.” Once again he polled the people in the room for their views. Of the principals only Susan Rice (enthusiastically) and Hillary Clinton (who would have settled for a no-fly zone) had the view that any sort of intervention made sense. “How are we going to explain to the American people why we’re in Libya,” asked William Daley, according to one of those present. “And Daley had a point: who gives a shit about Libya?”
…Obama made his decision: push for the U.N resolution and effectively invade another Arab country. Of the choice not to intervene he says, “That’s not who we are,” by which he means that’s not who I am. The decision was extraordinarily personal. “No one in the Cabinet was for it,” says one witness. “There was no constituency for doing what he did.” Then Obama went upstairs to the Oval Office to call European heads of state and, as he puts it, “call their bluff.” Cameron first, then Sarkozy. It was three a.m. in Paris when he reached the French president, but Sarkozy insisted he was still awake. (“I’m a young man!”) In formal and stilted tones the European leaders committed to taking over after the initial bombing. The next morning Obama called Medvedev to make sure that the Russians would not block his U.N. resolution.
The article closes with this
And it is telling that Michael Lewis, one of America’s finest journalists, didn’t even ask Obama about failing to put the decision about Libya before Congress. He didn’t ask despite the plain language of the Constitution, Obama’s prior statements indicating he fully understood his legal obligations, and the fact that various members of Congress complained about his unilateral action. The imperial presidency is so well entrenched that a journalist like Lewis needn’t really question those things to feel as though he’s including all the crucial parts of the story about going to war.
Obama flouted Congress. He lied about the destruction of the Libyan government. Regime change was the goal. I don’t remember democrats going apoplectic. I don’t remember protests sympathetic to Gaddafi breaking out all over the blue parts of the country. “Journalists” didn’t even seriously question obama.
And remember this?
Remember what was done to Gadaffi? It was a far worse fate than suffered by Soleimani. obama and clinton crowed about it. To this day it is a complete disaster.
That’s before we talk about the 2800 strikes ordered by obama without Congressional approval.
To be frank, democrats can take their present phony outrage and shove it.
Oh, and all those dems whining about not being notified? I would never have notified them either- especially Omar and Tlaib.
They would have warned Iran.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.