Reading into an Event…In Order to Entangle the US

There are many examples of this or that elected official, be they in the House of Representatives or Senate, pushing U.S. public opinion in a certain direction.

There are also those who object to randomly showing interest in or taking up just any opinion that this or that elected official proposes for the public.

An example of this second tendency is U.S. Senator Dick Clark warning the U.S. president (Jimmy Carter) against entangling United States in a new Vietnam War by directly intervening in African affairs and providing military support for the rebel movements maintaining their bases in both Zaire and South Africa.

To be sure, when one goes back to the files from May 1978 and tries to apply an event like this to the current reality in our Arab region, and especially in the time of what is known as the Arab Spring, one must wonder about the extent to which the current U.S. president, Barack Obama, has fallen down the slippery slope of Middle Eastern events. This is especially true in relation to the events in Syria, in as much as he has encouraged hostilities against the security of the nation and its citizens alike. Therefore, he has propelled the deterioration of the security situation in Syria towards the slope of danger, which warns of the future not only for Syria, but also of neighboring countries, stretching to the Gulf region.

It is natural for President Barack Obama to listen to his advisers like any other president in the world, and it is also natural for there to be among his advisers those who intend to entangle him in operations of no use, and whose burdens are not in the interest of the U.S., in one way or another, in the long term. Here, Obama can prove the extent to which he is conscious of where he can lead his country while taking into account the advice of his aides, and the conviction of some of them, that what is being seen on the satellite stations is the very essence of truth itself, rather than objective reports that clarify the truth of what is actually happening on the ground.

The current reality is not so different from the time of President Jimmy Carter, who one day nearly involved his country in a new Vietnam War, as Senator Dick Clark stated in 1978 – hence the global apprehension toward President Obama’s way of dealing with the problem in Syria and the countries neighboring it. This apprehension is also directed toward the extent to which he truly understands the consequences of the measures he takes, or may propose, that establish a direct or indirect U.S. presence in any place he chooses in the world, in order to regain respect for his country. This is especially true in the absence of the equation of unilateralism, and in the presence of two super powers on the global political scene, their roles shaping the world’s future.

I wonder, in the coming few days, if we will read a prudent statement in the manner of Senator Dick Clark on how to avoid a war that may befall the entire globe and be fiercer than the notorious Vietnam War? We hope.