Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 05/05/2013
DEAR FRIEND.....
After doing a "last review/edit" of my Weekend Reading and sending it to friends, being a political news junkie, I start the week with the Sunday Morning major networks news programs, Face the Nation hosted by Bob Schieffer/CBS, Meet the Press hosted by David Gregory/NBC and The Week with George Stephanopoulos/ABC. Since in LA they all concurrently broadcast at 8am, I record them along with Chris Matthew' half-hour weekend news show on NBC for later viewing. In addition to their round table panels of usual suspects including, George Will, Newt Gindrich, Mathew Dowd, Chuck Todd, Kelly O'Donald, Bob Woodward, Andrea Mitchell, Dan Rather, David Ignatius, Peggy Noonan, Cokie Roberts, David Brooks, Sam Donaldson, Fareed Zakaria, E.J. Dionne, Jr., Robert Reich, David Gergen, Peggy Noonan, John Dickerson, and Norah O'Donnell, this week's special guests included Senator Lindsey Graham on CBS, Senator John McCain on NBC and Representative Mike Rogers on ABC, to allow them to `Monday Morning Quarterback' the past week's political events and decisions. The problem with all of these shows, it that they are often use to settle scores and advance ideological positions, with sound bites being presented as solutions, pro and con, just in case one is correct. And because great humor is often based on a foundation of truth, what President Obama said at the Press Dinner last Saturday is true for the Sunday news programs — "... I know CNN has taken some knocks lately, but thefact is I admire their commitment to cover all sides of a story, just in case one of them happens to be accurate."
House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said this morning on This Week that "some action needs to be taken" against Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons, saying that the red line "can't be a dotted line." Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday on Face the Nation that "there's a growing consensus in the U.S. Senate that the United States should get involved." "If we keep this hands-off approach to Syria, this indecisive action towards Syria, kind of not knowing what we're going to do next, we're going to have war with Iran because Iran's going to take our inaction in Syria as meaning we're not serious about their nuclear weapons program," he said. "We need to get involved." And on Meet the Press, Senator John McCain auguring that the United States should be arming the rebels, using airstrikes to attack Assad's forces and create a safe haven for refugees. What all of this really means, no one knows, because as we know from Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan, without clearly defined goals, strong partners and total international support, the aftermath will most likely end up as a disaster. The first rule in drinking, if you don't know sip slow", and in international diplomacy, "when you don't know move slow." The President is right to dial back the "red line", especially when none of his options are good and there is no clear long-term goals or strong local partners. Leaving Afghanistan in the hands of Karzai and Iraq with Chalabi, Allawi and Maliki has proven to be a disaster, and in Syria it could be even worse.
Although I applaud John McCain as a patriot, he is totally out of touch with reality. This is a person who believes that the Surge In Iraq was a success, when in reality is was a temporary band-aid that for a time, overwhelming several violent factions while paying off others, but doing nothing to address the underlying core problems and dysfunctionality in the country. I believe that Lindsey Graham is right when he says that Syria looks like it is going to end up a failed state. As such I believe that tjat Senator McCain and the other Sunday experts are wrong when they insist that American should act alone, when there is nothing that the US can do other than putting a band-aid on a festering situation, especially with little or no public support at home, and regional non-existent partners, will put the blame on the last man standing. Because of this, all of the President's options are bad. Bombing a foreign country is -- an act of war, however you spin it. And as Collin Powell once caution, President George W. Bush V it breaks you will own it", the same is true in Syria. It is estimated that 70,000 people have already died in Syria as a result of this current civil war, and to use the death of 20 to 3o more as a pretense to go to war seems a bit hypocritical to me. Although Sarin is categorized as a WMD, less people died worldwide during the same period in the US due to firearms. Still, we couldn't even get background checks approved in Congress last week. I watched the Sunday Morning News Programs, with their guests advocating that we do something immediately, even when they all agree that there are no good options. Maybe when there are no good options, we should wait. And if this is truly a problem, let's wait for the Arab League, EU or the UN to take the lead, because as General Powell explained, if we break it we will end up owning it." And the Syrian war, will be our war.... game-changer or not. So again, if you don't know, sip slow.
Jon Stewart On Syria's 'Red Line': Republicans Think 'Freedom Magic' Will Win War (VIDEO)
Video Clip: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/jon-stewart-on-syrias-red_n_3192131.html
If Lindsey Graham has his way, the U.S. soon will be fighting four wars. On Tuesday, Jon Stewart took a look at Obama's "red line" that Syria may or may not have crossed by using chemical weapons, and then took apart the Republican march to war, but not "boots on the ground" war. Apparently, we'll be fighting this one with "remotefreedom magic." But Stewart gave Graham some credit when he said we just have to get the right weapons to the right people. "Oh, the right weapons to the right people... maybe we could do background checks." Isiah, that'll never work." Jon Stewart
Please watch the above video clip, to truly see the absurdity of the ill-thought advice that the Sunday News Programs experts presents week in and week out.
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Again, I hope that you enjoyed this week's offerings and wish you a great week
Sincerely,
Greg Brown
Gregory Brown
Chairman & CEO
GlobalCast Partners, LLC
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