Wuck Far
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way
– in short, the period was so far like the present period, ...
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of Nabil Said Hadjarab and Mutia Sadiq Ahmad Sayyab from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the Government of Algeria.
Today, 164 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo Bay Detainee Transfer Announced
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana
Each link is to an article that was part of the drumbeat leading up to the Iraq War. Click and read for more detail or just peruse these headlines. The March to War
There's another benefit, too, of relying on the rule of law. Doing so would strengthen the institutions, like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, designed to settle conflict without violence. That would mean we'd have more effective options available when future despots threaten to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To follow this path with credibility, though, the United States must itself live within the rule of law. That means, at the very least, refraining from launching into a war that violates international law. Only when a country is attacked, or when it has the support of a Security Council resolution, is a military assault on another country permitted. Syria: Alternatives to Military Strikes
We are already under the threat of government shutdowns, austerity, and cutbacks before spending money on Syria. There are existing diaries here on DailyKos that do the math and spell out the cost very clearly so I will refer you to those as background for this diary. Reading the source material is better than any summary I could create so please click through and read the contents of the links in full. Syria: What it will cost
But, so far, we have
1) No American lives lost
2) No American money spent
3) No aspect of the constitution violated
4) No American arms in the hands of Islamists or other bad guys
and
5) Assad at least talking seriously about giving up his chemical weapons. Obama is smarter than I am
4:06 AM PT: Intended or unintended consequences?
Kerry unconsciously set himself a trap and Russia used it to checkmate him and a U.S. attack on Syria. How can Obama convince Congress to allow him to bomb Syria when there is such an easy (though still to be negotiated) way to avoid starting another war? Syria: Lavrov Checkmates Kerry Over Offhand Remark