He talks about the impending war against Syria and, unlike most news outlets, in just a few minutes manages to remind us of the similarity of the drive of this latest war to wars of the past, the hypocrisy of US policy, and the absurd arguments being given in favor of this latest war.
(This clip aired on September 3, 2013. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
What I find baffling is how many people seem to be expecting the US to become involved in a war in Syria. This includes both those who want a war, and those who don’t want a war, except to the extent that they delight in criticizing said non-existent war.
To pretend that the US is engaging to save credibility or avoid looking weak, just because some idiot journalists or GOP wingnuts said that, is fundamentally ignorant or dishonest. It may help comedians pay the bills, but it is plain stupid and the people making decisions are not stupid.
What really made me laugh was Rumsfeld whining about demystifying for your enemy what you are going to do. Like for example announcing in advance that you will bomb on March 19th? Is that what Rummy means?
I predict there will be no US war. There will be no troops invading Syria. There will be no bombing for weeks or months. There will be a day or maybe two of striking carefully selected targets intended to indicate that it is specifically chemical weapons use that is being attacked. There won’t be an attempt to destroy Assad and throw the advantage in the civil war to the rebels.
If in a few months it proves that this prediction is wrong, everyone can lambast me for being a credulous fool. But all those who want to compare this to Iraq and insist this is a similar situation leading to a full fledged war had also better be ready to admit they were wrong.