FINALLY Obama Is on the Side of the Angels

At a decisive moment in the battle between Sherlock Holmes and his evil nemesis Moriarty, Moriarty turns to Holmes and says, "Oh, you are ordinary, you are on the side of the angels." Holmes responds, "I may be on the side of the angels but don't think for one second that I am one of them." A classic battle between Good and Evil. God and Satan. Beelzebub and Jesus. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vadar. Harry Potter and Voldemort. And we have seen in the past 24 hours that Barack Obama, and America with him, has come down on the side of the angels - the Syrian rebels - even though there may be no real angels on either side of this bitter civil war. What is President Obama's reasoning? Perhaps it is in part the following : (1). US-supplied weapons could fall into the hands of al-Qaida-linked militants fighting alongside the rebels, but this may be a small price to pay for saving millions of Syrians from slaughter and flight into refugee camps. (2). Obama's decision may have more to do with saving what's left of American credibility in the region and the world after Obama's ill-thought out "red line" statement than it has to do with saving Syria from total destruction. And saving US credibility on the red line by supplying weapons to the rebels, with its concurrent possibility of being drawn into yet another Middle East war, nevertheless fits into the humanitarian goal of saving Syrian women and children from death and torture, something Barack Obama seems to respond to if one considers his reasoning for gun control as a means of saving "beautiful little" children's lives. (3). America's conclusive evidence that al-Assad used chemical weapons against rebel fighters matches the conclusions of France and Britain, but some experts say the rebels may have used some type of chemical weapon, too, so there are no angels in this argument, but being involved on the side of the less-suspect rebels puts the US in a position to better control what happens to al-Assad's chemical weapon stockpile if his regime crumbles, and it gives support to Israel's urgent need to keep chemical weapons out of the hands of Hezbollah. (4). Obama's team could give the rebels a range of weapons, including small arms, assault rifles, shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenades and other anti-tank missiles, but rebel commanders say they need anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to counter the regime's superior firepower, delivered from warplanes and armored vehicles. American concern about high-powered weapons ending up in the hands of terrorist groups makes it very unlikely the US will provide sophisticated arms that would require large-scale training but supplying weapons to the rebels makes it likely that American military will have some control over what weaponry actually passes to jihadist groups in the rebel ranks. ~~~~~ So, dear readers, there may be no real angels in the Syrian civil war - but the balance, if one thinks in terms of good and evil, is on the side of the rebels. And that is where Barack Obama has chosen to be. FINALLY.