Granted, the United States has contributed to a lot of messes around the globe, but we’re pretty certain Syria was a humanitarian nightmare well before the U.S. dipped a toe in the waters.
President Obama, of course, famously drew that red line in Syria, although the New York Times later described his warning as an “off-the-cuff” remark that surprised even close advisers and put the United States in a bind. Just this month, former Secretary of State John Kerry declared that President Obama “never retreated from his red line,” just months after telling a group of Syrian civilians that it was he himself who had pushed for military intervention but “lost the argument.”
And then there was Kerry’s predecessor, who, during the debates, threw her former boss under the bus, claiming that Syria was “a disaster” but that all she could do was provide recommendations to the president.
That’s not to say the United States did nothing. Samantha Power did have that one family of refugees over to the penthouse for a spaghetti dinner one night.
He was obviously responding to President Trump’s plan for a temporary block on Syrian refugees, but like his fellow Democrats above, Sen. Chris Murphy put the blame for the disaster in Syria on the U.S.
We bomb your country, creating a humanitarian nightmare, then lock you inside. That's a horror movie, not a foreign policy.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 25, 2017
@ChrisMurphyCT @msaldean just as well Obama is no longer president then
— Anna Of The Kremlin (@TheInfidelAnna) January 25, 2017
Syria was a horror movie well before the U.S. finally bought tickets to watch the nightmare play out from the back row. And when America did see what was going on there, there was public support for an intervention that, in retrospect, both Clinton and Kerry claimed they were pushing for but couldn’t make happen.
.@ChrisMurphyCT President Peace Prize built that.
— The Mad Hessian (@TheMadHessian) January 25, 2017
@ChrisMurphyCT Clever, but should be "escalating" a humanitarian nightmare. Not really creating it causally.
— Brandon Riley (@BrandonJRiley) January 25, 2017
@ChrisMurphyCT We didn't start a war in Syria. Assad did it with torture & killings of children, & then gassing & barrel-bombing families.
— Ricky L (@YoHi64) January 26, 2017
@ChrisMurphyCT @MoveOn this is a very poor understanding of what's going on in Syria
— Joe DeSapio (@JosephDeSapio) January 25, 2017
@ChrisMurphyCT Who's we Senator? You and your beloved Obama/Hillary/Kerry own Syria!
— Bob Guynn (@majguynn) January 25, 2017
@ChrisMurphyCT @trevortimm WE didn't bomb anyone. Your buddies made that happen. Yet you advocate us bearing the consequences? Typical.
— AaronP (@CapeCodPiece) January 25, 2017
@ChrisMurphyCT Trump didn't bomb anyone & the catastrophe in Syria was caused by Obama's inactions. Open borders is a ridiculous concept.
— UKForUSA (@UKForUSA) January 25, 2017
@ChrisMurphyCT Wow! It's almost like Barry shouldn't have spent eight years waging unending proxy wars or something
— Slade White (@TabulaRasa4444) January 25, 2017
Stand up! Take a bow @ChrisMurphyCT You, #Hillary #obama have pushed aggressive failed foreign policy in #Libya #Syria #Ukraina
— Tom (@Thomasrcherry) January 25, 2017
Yeah, those #UnitedForUkraine hashtags written in Sharpie were a pretty aggressive message to Putin, but it had to be done.
@ChrisMurphyCT @daveweigel Except it was Obama/Clinton who unleashed Libya and Syria. Not Trump. Not the "far right," who opposed both.
— Virginia Dare (@vdare) January 25, 2017
So, if there hasn’t been an effective foreign policy in place for the last eight years, what’s the plan?
@ChrisMurphyCT Maybe we should put silencers on those bombs so nobody will hear them.
— Bill (@BillyBlue37) January 25, 2017
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Related:
#RefugeesWelcome: Samantha Power invites Syrian refugee family over for dinner and a photo-op https://t.co/HtJgOkjwp8
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) December 31, 2015