ISIS, Weapons Makers, Thugs Benefit from Bombing

President Obama is bombing the opposite side in Syria from the side he swore we needed to attack one year ago, and those pleased by this declare that he is ‘doing something.’
U. S. polls suggest that the same people recognize that this something will make the U. S. more likely to be attacked and nonetheless favor this action. This is unthinking fear produced by slick beheading videos for audiences too distracted to notice that the Iraqi government, Saudi government and numerous other U. S. friends and allies behead. And are we to imagine that when Obama kills a 16 year old American and the 6 kids near him his head remains intact? Should we pretend that the people being killed by U. S. missiles right now aren’t losing their heads?
This action is illegal under the UN Charter, Kellogg-Briand Pact, and U. S. Constitution. This action is immoral as it fuels violence that needs to be reduced. This action is knowingly, maddeningly counterproductive, guaranteed to build hostility to the United States, which is already so hated that ISIS openly advocates for a U. S. attack on it. This action by this White House is what ISIS wants and what weapons makers want. It is not what the people of Syria or Iraq or the world want. It further shreds the rule of law while dumping gasoline on a fire of U. S. creation.
What’s needed is, contrary to what your television suggests, not to ‘do nothing’ or love beheadings. What’s needed is an arms embargo. The U. S. ships 79% of the weapons shipped to the Middle East, not counting the weapons of the U. S. military. An arms embargo could be 79% successful with just one country participating, and others could certainly be brought to do so.

This post was published at Washingtons Blog on September 23, 2014.