Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Washington Post Editorial, "An anniversary of horrors in Syria": Where's Samantha Power?

In an important editorial entitled "An anniversary of horrors in Syria," The Washington Post describes the horrors that Bashar al-Assad has perpetrated against the civilian population of Syria:

"Since Bashar al-Assad’s regime first responded to the peaceful demonstrators with gunfire, 6 percent of the prewar population of 20 million have been killed or wounded, and another 23 percent have left the country — including 4 million who live as refugees, according to a U.N.-supported study released last week. Outside of Damascus, most major cities have been reduced to rubble; a study of satellite images shows that 83 percent of the country’s electric lighting has been eliminated."

The indifference of the Obama administration to the aforesaid? As noted by the editorial:

"The Obama administration, which once proclaimed the prevention of genocide a national security priority, has not even pretended to have a strategy for Syria since the collapse of a peace conference in Geneva 13 months ago.

. . . .

Secretary of State John F. Kerry created a stir over the weekend when he appeared to suggest that the administration is now open to negotiating with Mr. Assad.

. . . .

Mr. Kerry’s statements reflected the administration’s real policy, which is to wash its hands of Syria while hoping it can separately strike a deal with Iran on its nuclear program and collaborate with it to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq. At best, Syria’s continued agony will be the price for progress elsewhere in the Middle East. More likely, the Assad regime’s unchecked slaughter will continue to destabilize the region."

Or stated otherwise, the Obama administration is willing to stand idly by as Assad continues to slaughter innocents, in order to reach a deal providing Assad's patron, Khamenei, who sanctions the stoning to death of women and the hanging of homosexuals, with an arsenal of atomic bombs within a decade.

Why haven't we heard more from Samantha Power, Obama's ambassador to the UN, concerning the nightmare in Syria? Isn't she supposed to be dedicated to the prevention of genocide and atrocities? Note how Power, who labelled Hillary Clinton a "monster" in 2008, declared in 2014 that Hillary as president would be "awesome." At some point, almost all of us must weigh career advancement versus personal integrity, and Power is obviously no exception.

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