So yeah, Super Happy Fun Day with Sarah Palin was great, and I know the MSM can't refuse an Amber alert story, but for the love that is all good and proper we just can't turn a blind eye to incursions into sovereign nations!
While some have said this was a rather weak October surprise, hopefully spurning an international incident where Senator McCain's "experience" would be needed, it is still a violation of international law and basic human decency.
First it was Pakistan, now it is Syria. And unless terrorists are unarmed children on a farm, these missions have to stop.
U.S. raid in Syria echoes Pakistan strategy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
WASHINGTON - The startling U.S. commando attack inside Syrian territory over the weekend appears to amplify an emerging message to countries giving safe passage to terrorists: Take action, or else the U.S. will.
A U.S. military official in Washington says special forces conducted the raid in Syria on Sunday to target the network of al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria to help fight in the war in Iraq. Syria said troops in four helicopters attacked a building under construction on a farm and killed eight people, including four children.
"We are taking matters into our own hands," the U.S. military official in Washington told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.
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In Sukkariyeh, the Syrian village where the attack took place, families were holding funerals Monday for those killed. Clergy washed the bodies as angry residents chanted, "May God's wrath fall on them."
"Shooting then started ringing for more than 10 minutes," al-Hamad said Monday. After the helicopters stopped firing and left the area, he and other villagers went to the site and discovered the bodies of his uncle, Dawoud al-Hamad, and four of his uncle's sons, who he said were killed in the raid.
Unacceptable. Syria has been making every effort to get back into the international fold, after years of grandstanding in the region. They have even recently been in talks with Israel, ISRAEL! And Turkey is doing the mediating. This was a huge step towards stabilizing the region, especially Lebanon, and here comes Commander in Chief Bush throwing a rocket-propelled monkey wrench into the system.
Syria: U.S. 'raid' violates international law
http://www.cnn.com/...
"The U.S. is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, so this is an outrageous crime for a country who is responsible for maintaining peace and security in the whole world to act this way," Jihad Makdissi, a spokesman for the Syrian embassy in London, told the BBC.
It said the helicopters hit a civilian building under construction on the farm, killing a father and his four sons, a married couple and another man.
The attack occurred near Al-Bukamal, a town home to a Red Crescent camp for Iraqi refugees. The town is across the border from the western Iraqi city of Qaim, a major route for Sunni Arab fighters battling U.S. troops in Iraq.
So we attacked a farm, in a refugee camp from a war of our own making, which was flying the Red Crescent flag? Not sure how this could be more FUBAR. And to make this incursion during a time when Syria was in talks with its mortal enemy and opening discussions with our NATO allies is beyond reproach. It is a sign of failed leadership on every level of operations.
If this was an October surprise to try and get the discussion to foreign policy to benefit Senator McCain, the world will think even less of the USA, if that is even currently possible.
If it was just a FUBAR mission, the world just sigh and say, "Here we go again, and is it January 20th yet?"
Because even after Senator Obama wins on election day, President Bush will still have a quality two months to drag this once proud nation further and further down the slope of an out of control imperialistic banana republic.
Making it that much harder for the Obama administration to climb back up.