So Much For A 'Moral' U.S. Foreign Policy

The Moral Depravity Of Our Syria Policy -- Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post

Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to talk primarily about Ukraine. At the end of the interview, host George Stephanopoulos got a chance to ask her about Syria. This was the exchange:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, some disturbing video coming out of Syria this week — and I think we’re going to show it — right now reports of another poison gas attack, the first since August. The rebels have put out the video. Syrian state television has claimed that actually the rebels are behind the gas attack, not the government. Do we know who is behind this?

POWER: We are trying to run this down. So far, it’s unsubstantiated. But we’ve shown, I think in the past, that we will do everything in our power to establish what has happened and then consider possible steps in response.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And if the government did this after the president draws the red line, after they promised to turn over chemical weapons, will we have any option but to strike militarily?

POWER: Well, I’m not going to get ahead of the president, but the president has made very clear how alarming he finds chemical weapons use, how outrageous he found it, that’s why he put the credible threat of military force on the table, that’s why we’ve been able to destroy and remove more than half of Syria’s chemical weapons up to this point. But certainly the point of what we’ve done so far is to prevent further use. We weren’t just removing for removing sake, it was to avoid use. So we will have to look at our policy on this.

Her disingenuousness is remarkable, even in this administration.

Read more ....

My Comment: The problem that I have with the Obama administration's foreign policy initiatives is that there are times when I do wonder if they appreciate what may be the consequences of what they are doing. Case in point .... Libya. U.S. military forces assisted in the overthrow of the dictator, but while Gaddafi may now be gone .... the mess that is now Libya is impacting the entire region, and no-one (the White House included) are not presenting any good options to solve it. So I do understand why Samantha Power may be reluctant to now get involved in Syria .... there is no end game for the U.S. to pursue if they start to get involved directly.

Her old speech at TED (see above video) is interesting to watch because when compared to today .... she has certainly changed.