The sins of the past are now catching up with the US. What’s worse they are putting the world in grave danger.

US president Barack Obama may have beaten a tactical retreat on the Syrian issue, saying he will put plans for a US military strike against the country on hold if it agrees to place its chemical weapons stockpile under international control. It is no more than a face-saving retreat. Support for the US president’s proposed plan to punish the Syrian leader for his alleged use of chemical weapons against his own people has been weak not just among peaceniks across the world but also British parliamentarians and members of the US Congress.

Last August Obama drew up a “red line” which he said would be when “we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilised.” Someone in Syria clearly breached that line and Obama is now accepting there’s little he can do about it.

That leaves the world in a very dangerous situation. Who will be the moral custodian of international rights? It has been understood for years that in times of crisis the world needs a global policeman, behind whom other countries can rally in support of just and right causes. With the US, the only remaining superpower, losing all moral authority and the UN continuing to be toothless, there is no one to play that role.

For this trust gap, the US has only itself to blame. The world is weary and suspicious of US interventions in other nations. The problem is that virtually no one—not in the US nor outside it—will accept Pentagon’s word that Assad was directly responsible for the chemical attack. After George Bush famously lied to Americans and the world at large about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, there is no chance of the US government’s assurances being accepted without hard, incontrovertible evidence.

Appearing on a Charlie Rose television show, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has disputed US allegations that he used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. Assad told the CBS news host that the Obama Administration hasn’t quite proved he did. That created a piquant situation for the US: Assad is not quite the kind of demonic figure Saddam Hussain or Moammar Gadhafi were and while he is no democrat it becomes his word against that of Barack Obama.

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for more liberal perspective slipped in as news, see:
http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/dhYPrhMd...t-on-Syria.html

"After George Bush famously lied to Americans and the world at large about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq..."

that line stuck in my craw! When are these A-_____s going to learn the difference between being wrong and lying? If Bush lied about WMDs in Iraq so did John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. It is so acceptable for them to say these Bush lies as the truth. It's almost the noble thing to do, [a little pat on the head when they ring this bell] to put down George Bush.

The extremely low level of integrity among these devils is why we have the Obama void.