Worth A Thousand Words Or So

The Obama Administration is like a top-40 radio station. I mean, the hits just keep on comin':

Obama waives ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to Syrian opposition

President Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to "vetted" opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., in 2001. Assad's regime is backed by Iran and Hezbollah.

The president, citing his authority under the Arms Export Control Act, announced today that he would "waive the prohibitions in sections 40 and 40A of the AECA related to such a transaction."

"For purposes of this subsection, such acts shall include all activities that the Secretary determines willfully aid or abet the international proliferation of nuclear explosive devices to individuals or groups or willfully aid or abet an individual or groups in acquiring unsafeguarded special nuclear material," the law continues. Those two sections prohibit sending weaponry to countries described in section 40(d): "The prohibitions contained in this section apply with respect to a country if the Secretary of State determines that the government of that country has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism," Congress stated in the Arms Control Export Act.

The law allows the president to waive those prohibitions if he "determines that the transaction is essential to the national security interests of the United States."

Under section 40(g) of the AECA, the Obama team must also provide Congress — at least 15 days before turning over the weapons — "the name of any country involved in the proposed transaction, the identity of any recipient of the items to be provided pursuant to the proposed transaction, and the anticipated use of those items," along with a list of the weaponry to be provided, when they will be delivered, and why the transfer is key to American security interests.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., endorsed providing military assistance to the Syrian opposition during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.

"Our intelligence agencies, I think, have a very good handle on who to support and who not to support," Corker said. "And there's going to be mistakes. We understand some people are going to get arms that should not be getting arms. But we still should be doing everything we can to support the free Syrian opposition."

Someone please refresh my memory: When America sent food aid to Ethiopia and Somalia, did that food reach the starving non-combatants it was intended to help? If not, into whose hands did it fall?

Don't all rush at once, now.

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Among the controversies that "rage" on the Right side of the Blogosphere, the following has been particularly active: Is Obama a complete, America-hating villain, or is he just a complete idiot? Opinion has been fairly evenly divided up to now. The above development isn't likely to settle it, though it will add a couple of Senators' names to the roll of idiots.

Syria is embroiled in a civil war. It's been in that state for at least two and a half years. Many Syrians, combatants and non-combatants alike, have died in that war. Despite the carnage, it's unclear whether the Assad regime will prevail or be toppled. There are analysts on either side of the question.

Though the pro-Assad forces retain political power and control over Syria's military, the rebel groups are in control of significant portions of the country, including parts of Damascus, the capital city. The chaos isn't quite as pronounced as it was in Beirut in its worst years, but it's still considerable. Absent a military intervention by a major power -- America or Russia -- no one I know is willing to bet the mortgage money on either side.

However, it's clear that the rebel groups have been deeply penetrated by Islamist forces, most notably al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood affiliates. They might constitute a majority. They receive logistical support from Iran. Should an influx of weapons reach any of the rebel groups, "vetted" or not, it seems very probable that the Islamist groups will contrive to get their hands on them. That, as we saw in Egypt, is not a desirable outcome, especially if the rebels should succeed in toppling the Assad regime.

Obama and his lieutenants have dismissed that possibility and all the paths that lead away from it. Are they out of their minds, or am I?

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It was clear from very early in Obama's pursuit of the presidency that he's a person of immense ego. He believes himself to be a figure of transcendent potency and importance, whose personal qualities will enable him to succeed where lesser lights have failed. Serious observers have noted the irony of Obama's infinitesimal objective accomplishments many times. It changes nothing.

The idea of taxing and spending our way to prosperity has been tried by all the Democrat administrations since Woodrow Wilson, and has produced nothing but economic stagnation, mass unemployment, and mountains of public debt. Obama is certain it will be different under his hand.

The dream of low-cost universal health care has destroyed peoples' freedom, their health, and the economies of their nations, everywhere it's been tried. Obama thinks he can get it to work.

The fantasy of a totally disarmed yet peaceful society has eluded every nation that's seized its citizens' weapons, subjecting them instead to wild rampages of crime and violence. That doesn't faze Obama.

The pacification of the Middle East has frustrated presidents and administrations all the way back to Harry Truman. Obama thinks he can make it happen.

The chimera of world peace through unilateral disarmament, where the aggressor nations give up their weapons of mass destruction because we did so first? A piece of cake for Barack Hussein Obama.

He really does believe his own bullshit.

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Stupid? Evil? Perhaps, and perhaps not. But massively deluded? Definitely. Obama is America's King Knut, who took his predecessor's demonstration that no man can command the tide to stop as a personal challenge. More, he reacts with barely restrained, completely undisguised fury toward anyone who dares to question his omnipotence. Whether it's a private citizen type like Joe the Plumber or a chief of state like Benjamin Netanyahu makes no difference at all; you do not question The Won.

History is replete with tales of the downfall of men who believed themselves superior to "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God." Obama will not be an exception. Nor will his unwillingness to believe that spare him any of the consequences of his willfulness and arrogance.

As for the picture the title of this screed foretold, I've got it right here:

Shamelessly stolen from WRSA. So in effect you got two thousand words for your money this morning. Stretches the mind, doesn't it?