Anti-Obama ‘experts’ wrong
Staying out of the Middle East morass was the right path
Richard Cohen’s syndicated column, “American Century ends with Obama indifference,” was just the latest in a long list of opinion columns the Journal has run criticizing Obama’s policy in Syria. Most of these were authored by so-called “experts,” many of whom supported the invasion of Iraq, our support for the overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt and the removal of Qaddafi in Libya. Those policies have only created a power vacuum in each of those countries that have allowed extremists like ISIS to move in.
These so-called experts who criticize Obama come from both sides of the political spectrum.
On the right you have the militant imperialists who believe in use of American power to extend our influence. On the left you have the moral imperialists who believe in the use of American power to right every wrong in the world.
Jeffrey Goldblum in a March 2016 Atlantic magazine article on Obama’s foreign policy cites a discussion that Obama had with his advisers in which he asked whether they could cite an instance where American intervention in the Middle East actually made the situation better for American interests. If they could, Obama would consider intervening in Syria.
Obama’s staff couldn’t come up with an instance where U.S. intervention furthered American interests.
As for Syria, despite the repressive nature of the Assad regime, wouldn’t the U.S. have been better off had he stayed in power? We tolerate other even more regressive regimes, like Saudi Arabia.
Had Assad stayed in power, it would have avoided the establishment of ISIS in Syria and the influx of Syrian refugees into Europe and Middle East countries.
It would also have avoided the deaths and hardships of hundreds of thousands of Syrians.
I have my own concerns about Obama’s foreign policy, but my concerns are that he has been too interventionist. Although I don’t agree with the libertarians like Rand Paul on economic policy, I agree with their less interventionist foreign policy.
To paraphrase the Serenity Prayer, may the U.S. have the serenity to accept the things it cannot change, the courage to change the things it can, and the wisdom to know the difference.