President Obama Blames His Critics For The Mess In Syria

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post: Obama claims his critics forced him to make a mess of Syria

The administration let it be known it is scrapping what it never seriously pursued, namely training of anti-regime, nonjihadist rebels. In what surely is the most cringe-worthy excuse offered by a commander-in-chief, President Obama last week complained that his critics — whom he routinely ignored and scorned — forced him to make a mess of Syria. To say it is unbecoming of a president to whine that he was only following what critics told him to do, understates just how dishonest the president is and how morally repugnant is his approach to a war that has claimed more than 200,000 lives, created millions of refugees and provided the Islamic State with a base of operations.

The New York Times reported, “Mr. Obama is arguing that he reluctantly went along with those who said it was the way to combat the Islamic State, but that he never wanted to do it and has now has been vindicated in his original judgment. The I-told-you-so argument, of course, assumes that the idea of training rebels itself was flawed and not that it was started too late and executed ineffectively, as critics maintain.” (Indeed editorial pages consistently criticized the president for belatedly, ineffectually, and halfheartedly acting or for shedding crocodile tears but taking no meaningful action to protect civilians, aid nonjihadi rebels and enforce the red line.

WNU Editor: As I have said in a previous post .... this is the first time that I have seen a sitting U.S. President blame others for a policy that he himself ordered and approved. But while the critics are piling on President Obama .... I do understand that he is trying his best to keep America's involvement in the Syrian war at a minimum .... and he is probably frustrated that his plans are going awry. The Syrian war is rapidly becoming one those situations where "you may not want to go war, but war wants to go to you" .... and President Obama is probably becoming more aware of that than anyone else.