The chattering pragmatists are softening up Americans for the next Middle East war

By Kent R. Kroeger (April 20, 2018)

The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson lays out his defense of a regime change war in Syria as follows:

“ In the chaos that once was Syria, Obama and Trump have wanted to define America’s mission in ways that are discrete, limited and achievable… In the real world, however, battles are not won by limiting your objectives. The outcome in Syria that would have best served American values and interests? A well-armed coalition of moderate rebels forcing the regime to the negotiating table, resulting in a coalition government that includes some regime elements but not Assad.”

Gerson, among others, is a reliable canary-in-the-mine indicator of an impending large-scale U.S. military adventure. When the Democratic Party’s pragmatists come out in force talking about ‘using the U.S. military to force competing militant groups to the negotiation table’ or ‘stopping war crimes and human rights abuses’ by brutal dictators, prepare for war.

Even Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld knew their teeing up the 2003 Iraq War required schmoozing with Democratic-leaning opinion leaders to strengthen congressional and public support for that war.