History Repeating

Rumsfeld: Obama hasn’t justified Syria attack

"Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday night that President Barack Obama had not done enough to justify an attack on Syria. 'One thing that is very interesting, it seems to me, is that there really hasn’t been any indication from the administration as to what our national interest is with respect to this particular situation,' Rumsfeld told Fox Business Network host Neil Cavuto. Rumsfeld criticized the Obama administration for being in a 'withdraw mode' and an 'apology mode.' He said the lack of U.S. assertiveness on the world stage had created a power vacuum that was being filled by those who didn’t share American values or interests." Continue reading →

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George Galloway British Parliament Debate On Syria Military Action

"George Galloway speaks as The British House of Commons holds an urgent debate on possible military action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Prime Minister David Cameron recalled parliament following reports of a chemical weapons attack against Syrian citizens." Continue reading →

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White House faces high bar on Syria after Bush Administration’s Iraq lies

"The White House will likely argue that since its proposed action in Syria will be 'limited' it does not require Congress to wield its constitutionally granted power to authorize a declaration of war. But the more time that passes before US military action, the more restive the domestic political scene becomes. A growing number of lawmakers have concerns and polls show Americans wary of another foreign entanglement. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy meanwhile said on MSNBC that cruise missile attacks may make people 'feel better, but it may not actually make the Syrian people safer or advance US national security interests.'" Continue reading →

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Obama administration hints it could act alone on Syria

"The United States hinted Thursday it could act alone to punish Syria for a chemical weapons attack. The Obama administration also denied that public skepticism dating to an Iraq war intelligence debacle was complicating its effort to justify possible military action against Syria. Obama, who came to power criticizing his predecessor George W. Bush’s go-it-alone approach on foreign policy, was confronted Thursday with a choice over whether to wait for allies or launch unilateral US action. Obama aides stress they envisage only 'limited' punitive action in Syria and dismiss comparisons with the US invasion of Iraq, which the president built his political career on opposing." Continue reading →

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U.S. spying still under shadow of Iraq intelligence failures

"In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq 10 years ago, the CIA and other intelligence services confidently asserted that Saddam Hussein’s regime had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. But it turned out the intelligence community was 'dead wrong in almost all of its pre-war judgments about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction,' according to an official inquiry, the Silberman-Robb report. The spy services failed to collect solid information, botched their analysis and reached conclusions based on flawed assumptions instead of evidence, making it 'one of the most public — and most damaging — intelligence failures in recent American history,' the 2005 report said." Continue reading →

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US Interest Rates Will Continue to Rise

"The recent rise in long-term interest rates is just the beginning of an increase that will punish investors who are seeking extra yield by betting on long-term bonds. The relatively low interest rates on both short-term and long-term bonds are now causing both individual investors and institutional fund managers to assume duration risk and credit-quality risk in the hope of achieving higher returns. That was the same risk strategy that preceded the financial crisis in 2008. Investors need to recognize that reaching for yield could end very badly yet again." Continue reading →

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Housing Recovery Mirage Over; Bernanke Hoping to Retire Before It’s Noticed

"At the end of 2010, the interest rate on a 30-year mortgage was just under 5 percent… 4.97% to be more precise. Over the next 28 months actions taken by the Fed pushed that rate down as low as 3.42%. So… wonders of wonders… miracles of miracles… soon we were witnessing the inexplicable recovery of our previously decimated and hopelessly underwater housing markets from coast-to-coast. Stories of streets being paved with the gold of home equity and sprawling rental empires were being passed along from Realtor to mortgage broker throughout our apparent Land of Opportunity… the worst was finally over… everyone said so… even on T.V. so it simply had to be true." Continue reading →

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Chris Hedges: The Treason of the Intellectuals

"If they had known then what they know now, they assured us, they would have acted differently. This, of course, is false. The war boosters, especially the 'liberal hawks'—who included Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Al Franken and John Kerry, along with academics, writers and journalists such as Bill Keller, Michael Ignatieff, Nicholas Kristof, David Remnick, Fareed Zakaria, Michael Walzer, Paul Berman, Thomas Friedman, George Packer, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Kanan Makiyaand the late Christopher Hitchens—did what they always have done: engage in acts of self-preservation. To oppose the war would have been a career killer. And they knew it." Continue reading →

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The US-Syrian Quandary: A Case of Déjà-Vu

"All of this sounds just a little bit too familiar for our taste. We all know how much of a problem the Iraq debacle has been for the US government and its budget. In fact, we may just be weeks away from seeing Tomahawk cruise missiles raining on Damascus. As Doug Casey likes to put it, never let a good crisis go to waste. Though Syria is not a major producer of oil, the impact of its civil war can reach far beyond its borders to countries such as Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. We believe this saber-rattling by the US government is simply another step toward trying to secure the Persian Gulf… and its precious oil resources." Continue reading →

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How Will White House Find Legal Grounds to Bomb Syria?

"Obama is already breaking the UN charter by shipping arms to rebels, by training them, and by introducing covert CIA and mercenary operatives into Syria. He has already made the US an outlaw nation. Perhaps having already crossed the Rubicon of illegality, he doesn’t care if he advances further into that territory. Perhaps he feels that he can sell an aggressive attack on Syria on the basis of its being defensive and his being in the right. But since America is not threatened, there is no such rationale on the basis of defense possible." Continue reading →

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