On August 30th, 2013 President Barack Obama confounded many of the lessor hawks and full blown Neocons within and without his administration by not taking vigorous military action against the regime of Bashar al-Assad following the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, Syria nine days earlier. His friend, and Secretary of State, John Kerry, had, only hours earlier, spoken at The State Department making a compelling case for immediate action:
“My friends, it matters here if nothing is done. It matters if the world speaks out in condemnation and then nothing happens.
America should feel confident and gratified that we are not alone in our condemnation and we are not alone in our will to do something about it and to act.
The world is speaking out. And many friends stand ready to respond. The Arab League pledged, quote, “to hold the Syrian regime fully responsible for this crime.” The Organization for Islamic Cooperation condemned the regime and said we needed, quote, “to hold the Syrian government legally and morally accountable for this heinous crime.”
His former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and others in his State and Defense Departments were urging him to punish Assad and his military for the heinous gas attacks which left as many as 1700 Syrians dead.
In the Senate inveterate Neocons like John McCain and Lindsey Graham were goading him to action with their usual bellicose and semi-informed pronouncements.
But, at the last minute, the President decided to ask Congress to weigh in by authorizing the use of Military Force, which he had to know would effectively table the action as the Congress in question was unlikely to approve his any initiative, short of renaming the White House the Whites Only House.