Obama, Assad go head-to-head in US interview duel

Obama, Assad go head-to-head in US interview duel (via AFP)

Presidents Barack Obama and Bashar Al-Assad will go head-to-head in dueling US television interviews Monday, as a crucial week dawns for the US leader’s push for air attacks on Syria. Assad will reportedly deny that he used chemical weapons on civilians…

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Lonegan: Booker’s Syria Position Is As Fake As ‘T-Bone’

GOP U.S. Senate nominee Steve Lonegan said this afternoon that his Democratic opponent, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is afraid to admit his support of President Barack Obama’s desire to attack Syria.

“Mayor Booker claims he cannot say whether he will support or oppose President Obama’s proposed military attack on Syria allegedly because he has no access to classified information,” Lonegan said, calling that argument “as fake as T-Bone.”

“The American people have figured out very quickly that President Obama has not made the case that American interests are at stake in Syria,” Lonegan said.  “Americans are sick of being the world’s policeman and sick of getting involved in domestic civil wars where there is no evidence that America’s national security is threatened.”

“Cory Booker is afraid to admit he supports the President’s proposed war in Syria,” Lonegan said, “so instead he attempts to hide behind the smokescreen of not having enough information.  But people are on to the Mayor’s act now, and his refusal to speak out against the President’s war can only be interpreted as assent.”

T-Bone is a character in a parable that Booker used early in his political career, until the Star Ledger raised questions about the authenticity of talent.  Booker claimed that T-Bone was a Newark drug dealer who once threatened his life and then a few year later pled with the mayor, in tears, to help him avoid prison.  In published reports Booker has claimed that the character is both “1000% a real person” and “an archetype.”

Regarding Syria, Booker initially said he would not support a strike, then equivocated.  Now he says he does not have enough information to say whether or not he would vote to authorize a military strike.

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Obama warns against Syria inaction

Obama warns against Syria inaction (via AFP)

President Barack Obama on Saturday warned US lawmakers against turning “a blind eye” to Syria, as Washington sought to muster European Union support for military strikes against the Damascus regime. Fresh from a G20 summit in Saint Petersburg where…

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House leader: expect Syria vote within two weeks

House leader: expect Syria vote within two weeks (via AFP)

The US House Republican leader told his caucus Friday to expect a vote on authorization of the use of force in Syria within the next two weeks. In an internal memo to fellow Republican members, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor laid out a busy schedule…

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Lonegan on Syria

Published on Aug 29, 2013

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Arming Syrian Rebels Is A Mistake

By Bader George Qarmout

As an American of Christian Arab descent, I believe that arming the Syrian rebels is a mistake and will haunt the US in the near future.

The rebels are made up of 2 types of fighters. Some of the rebels are true democracy loving Syrians who want to free their people and nation from tyranny. The majority of rebels, on the other hand, are Syrian and non-Syrian (Al Qaeda) Muslim extremists who want to topple the government to replace it with a strict Islamist anti-western government. These two groups have become comingled and it’s nearly impossible to differentiate between the two.  If we support the rebels how we can be sure we are not arming the Islamist extremists?

 We can’t.

The Obama Administration’s decision to arming Syria’s rebels will deepen America’s involvement in a war that is being fought along sectarian lines, pinning Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and threatening the stability of Israel and Jordan.

I have spoken with a Christian women and her son who just fled Syria to the US, and they spoke of Christian persecution and mass murder and dismemberment of Christians in Syria. She also said that many of the Rebel fighters are imports from other Muslim nations like Chechnya, and Afghanistan.  

There is no such thing as a good outcome of the Syrian uprising. It frightens me to see what is happening in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and other Muslim nations.   There are fears that Assad’s stockpile of chemical weapons, believed to be one of the world’s largest, could fall into the hands of Islamic extremist groups.

The only safe solution is not to arm any of the parties, because choosing the lesser of two evils, is still dealing with evil. We need to make sure our allies in the Middle East like Israel and Jordan are safe and supported with humanitarian aid to help the refuges migrating to Jordan. We need to work closely with Israel and build up our defense systems in the region. We must NOT hinder Israel from doing what it believes is in her best interest.  A  United Nations no-fly zone would make a significant impact to protect civilian life and bring both sides to the negotiating table for a conference set to take place in Geneva in July.

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