Will the Global Policeman Hang Up His Badge?

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/05-0


The tenor may have changed, but Obama is serving the same imperial role as his predecessor as he seeks to propel US into new Middle East war. (Image via 'Americaintheworld')

“I didn’t set a red line,” Barack Obama now insists. “The world set a red line.” It's a nice effort by the White House spinmeisters.

But I think the president was far more honest about his motives back on August 31, when he told the world: "We are the United States of America. ... Out of the ashes of world war, we built an international order and enforced the rules that gave it meaning. ... This nation more than any other has been willing to meet those responsibilities. ... Now is the time to show the world that America keeps our commitments."

The message was coded, but easy enough to decipher: America still has more responsibility and more of a commitment than any other nation to enforce the rules of the international order, because we built that order. The rules we made are the red line. Syria crossed them. Now Syria must pay, if only to prove that the U.S. is a credible enforcer; that, as Obama concluded, "We do what we say."

Obama's reference to the ashes of World War II is the key to the code, and to his hawkish Syria policy.

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1. Our government is in seventh grade.