On April 24, Easter Sunday, three leading members of the patrician branch of the U.S. regime (and effective modern-day proconsuls) - Senators John McCain, who had just returned from meeting with Libyan insurgents in Benghazi, and Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham - appeared on CNN's "State Of The Union" program, the first two live and the other in a segment taped two days before.
In what Americans and the rest of the world have come to accept as specimens of U.S. foreign policy expertise, international diplomacy and seasoned statesmanship, Lieberman stated that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 "gives justification if NATO decides it wants to, for going directly after Gadhafi," and Graham added that "my recommendation to NATO and the administration is to cut the head of the snake off, go to Tripoli, start bombing Gadhafi's inner circle, their compounds, their military headquarters."
McCain and Graham are Republicans and Lieberman is a self-described independent who caucuses with Democratic Party colleagues in the Senate and was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000. The once almost second-in-command of the world's sole military superpower, to use Obama's phrase, added: "You can't get into a fight with one foot." The transition from republic to empire cost Rome the eloquence of Cicero. The United States has nothing to lose on that score.
Graham, further working himself into a frenzy of unbridled bellicosity and not to be outdone by his colleague in either fury or coarse bluster, asserted that "the goal is to get rid of Gadhafi" and added "Let's get this guy gone."
He offered these specifics:
"The people around Gadhafi need to wake up every day wondering, 'Will this be my last?' The military commanders in Tripoli supporting Gadhafi should be pounded." As the expression has it, beating - or more accurately killing - the servant to punish the master. The model of interstate relations the imperial metropolis is enforcing around the world with the resources of the most powerful military machine in history.
To demonstrate to Russia and China, nuclear powers and veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, how much their obsequious compliance in allowing the U.S. and its NATO allies to launch the war against Libya by abstaining on the March 17 Security Council vote has gained them respect and gratitude as "responsible" partners on the global stage, Graham also said:
"You can't let the Russians and the Chinese veto the freedom agenda. So any time you go to the United Nations Security Council, you run into the Russians and the Chinese. These are quasi-dictatorships, so I wouldn't be locked down by the U.N. mandate."
Lieberman, not content with a Libyan campaign that will soon enter its third month on the calendar with no indication of abating, advocated the replication of its lead-up in regard to Syria, calling for the seizing of government officials' assets and an arms embargo against the nation he took pains to link with Iran.
In his words, "This is a moment of extraordinary opportunity for the cause of freedom in Syria, and it has tremendous strategic significance for the region."
On April 28 Lieberman, McCain and Graham released a joint statement targeting Syria in earnest, which opens with this paragraph:
"The escalating crackdown by Bashar al Assad's regime against the Syrian people has reached a decisive point. By following the path of Moammar Qaddafi and deploying military forces to crush peaceful demonstrations, Assad and those loyal to him have lost the legitimacy to remain in power in Syria. We urge President Obama to state unequivocally -- as he did in the case of Qaddafi and Mubarak -- that it is time for Assad to go. The President should take tangible diplomatic and economic measures to isolate and pressure the Assad regime, including through targeted sanctions against Assad himself and other regime officials who are responsible for gross human rights abuses." [3]
From "Let's get this guy [Gaddafi] gone" to "it is time for Assad to go" in four days.
The following day the Obama administration in large measure obliged them.
The U.S. and its NATO allies have, in addition to U.S. Sixth Fleet and NATO Active Endeavor military assets permanently deployed in the Mediterranean, warplanes, warships and submarines engaged in the assault against Libya that can be used against Syria at a moment's notice.
On April 27 Russia and China evidently prevented the U.S. and its NATO allies from pushing through an equivalent of Resolution 1973 against Syria in the Security Council, with Russian deputy ambassador to the UN Alexander Pankin stating that the current situation in Syria "does not present a threat to international peace and security." Syria is Russia's last true partner in the Mediterranean and the Arab world and hosts one of only two Russian overseas naval bases, that at Tartus. (The other being in Ukraine's Crimea.)
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