Somber Morning Joe Segment Condemns Obama, UN Inaction on Aleppo
Scarborough: Horrific Pictures the Legacy of the United States and its President
This Insurrectionist has been monitoring Morning Joe since its inception. But perhaps never in the ensuing nine years has there been a segment quite so somber as the one that led Wednesday’s show. The subject was Aleppo, the images were horrific, and the accusation laid at the feet of President Obama, the Western allies and the UN was that their inaction has led to the slaughter of countless thousands.
The segment opened with a statement at the UN by US Ambassador Samantha Power condemning Assad, Russia and Iran. But as Joe Scarborough observed: “those were damning, damning words. But they were damning words of the Obama administration.” Scarborough was referring to the fecklessness of the Unites States in the face of the slaughter. Scarborough chillingly reported that “you actually have mothers going to priests saying will God forgive me if I kill my child so ISIS doesn’t torture them when they get them and kill them?”
It was Mike Barnicle, surprisingly, who suggested that the United Nations should be “shut down” because of its failure to do anything to end the Syrian bloodshed. Said Scarborough, agreeing, “they come here in September [for the General Assembly] and they have parties. That’s all they do.”
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Speaking before the UN Security Council yesterday, Ambassador Samantha Power directly addressed President Assad and his allies.
SAMANTHA POWER: To the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran, three member states behind the conquest of and carnage in Aleppo, you bear responsibility for these atrocities. When one day there is a full accounting of the horrors committed in this assault of Aleppo, and that day will come sooner or later, you will not be able to say you did not know what was happening, you will not be able to say you were not involved.
We all know what was happening, and we all know you were involved. It should shame you. Instead, by all appearances, it is emboldening you. Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there literally nothing that can shame you? Is there no act of barbarism against civilians, no execution of a child that gets under your skin, that just creeps you out a little bit? Is there nothing you will not lie about or justify?
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Those were damning, damning words but they were damning words of the Obama administration.
MIKA: I know.
JOE: Her words were damning to the United States of America. Her words were damning to, yes, the British Parliament and the British people and the German people and the French and the entire West. I guess I really shouldn’t blame the French because Hollande actually told Barack Obama that he was willing to blow up, be part of an operation that would blow up planes on the ground that were killing children and women and destroying hospitals.
How Samantha Power, with all due respect, a woman that I respect, but how she sits there and says those words working for an administration that has been mute on this issue or backed down when they actually finally did show some spine. It’s unspeakable. These pictures are not just the legacy of Putin and Assad. These pictures are the legacy of the United States and their President.
. . .
MIKE BARNICLE: The stories that poured out of the refugees, I realize it’s early in the morning. But the stories that he told me that were told to him, he said he had 50 to 55 people who were in shock, traumatized by what they endured, that had seen their sons, their husbands, beheaded in front of them some of them. Some of them had seen their daughters raped. Some of them had seen their kin, their husbands or other children burned to death. Burned alive. And this is what — this is what has been going on for five years.
. . .
MIKA: You have women choosing suicide to the alternative.
JOE: By the way, one of the things that we didn’t mention yesterday, but you actually have mothers going to priests saying will God forgive me if I kill my child so ISIS doesn’t torture them when they get them and kill them?
. . .
WILLIE GEIST: Samantha Power just said it right there in that clip we just played. She said we all know what was happening. She was addressing Assad and Putin. She could have been saying it for herself and for President Obama.
MIKA: She’s very frustrated.
. . .
BARNICLE: Another thing that’s clearly evident from the past five years is they should just shut down the United Nations. Just shut it down.
JOE: Shut it down.
BARNICLE: Because they do nothing. They have done so little in this regard.
JOE: Mike, thank God you said that. You know what they do? They come here in September, and they have parties. That’s all they do. This is disgraceful. If there were ever, ever a legitimate cause for the United Nations it would have been over the past five years, and protecting these refugees, but they did nothing. They sat back and did absolutely nothing.
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No, the UN has a third reason to exist, to excoriate Israel to assuage their own shame and guilt.
What do they expect? What is the United States supposed to do? Are we supposed to land the 82nd Airborne in Aleppo? Are we supposed to insert ourselves into this war? Should we escalate this into an international war and go to war with the Russians, Syrians, Iranians, Iraqi’s, and anyone else with a bone to pick?
War used to be reserved for things that directly affected the U.S. and our national interest. I’m super sorry for the lives of these innocents but what is going on in Syria has nothing to do with the U.S. national interest.
Would Ol’ President Joe Scarborough send in the 4th Infantry along with their armor and the add the Air Force and try out the new F-35 against a really good air defense system? All for what?
The whole bloody history of the world is filled with the deaths of innocent people.
A recent list compile by the Pentagon says at this time there are:
10 official wars and 8 active military conflicts recognized by the United States. There are also other violent conflicts involving 64 countries and 576 militias and separatist groups.
Believe it or not – US special operators are authorized to operate in 95 different countries (but there are not enough SEALS, DELTAs, etc to cover all of them all. So, they are in about 50+-)
You can bet that in every one of these conflicts innocents are dying. So, do we intervene in all 82?
Ah yes. Let’s remember all of the steps for something like this:
1. Nothing has happened yet, so let’s not do anything.
2. Something might be happening, but it’s so confusing. Let’s gather some more facts before thinking about doing something.
3. Things appear to be happening, but we’ll try to talk them out of doing more.
4. Things are really happening, but we’ve done some bad things in the past ourselves. Let’s continue to talk about it but remember our hands aren’t clean either.
5. The thing has happened. Well, we can’t do anything about it now that it’s over. But rest assured, they will have to answer for it someday. (that’s where we are now.)
6. Nothing has happened yet …
Suddenly Aleppo? Is this an attempt to distract us from something else? Or, is it an attempt to get us bogged down in another Middle Eastern Knife Fight?
I’m fine with the USA staying out the Aleppo. I won’t condemn Obama for not getting involved. My condemnation would come from Obama getting involved or instances where he said he might get involved.
Obama is gone in just over one month. I do not want him doing anything anywhere in his remaining time, let alone a military operation in the Middle East.
Have a little respect for the Nobel Peace Prize winner, eh? /sarc
The interesting thing about the Syrian Civil War is that ANYONE in the US would advocate US intervention in it, against the wishes of the Syrian government. Here are a few inconvenient truths.
Syria is a legitimate nation whose existing government is recognized by the US. It has been this way for a very long time. As such, the US has NO right or authority to actively intervene in the interior affairs of that nation, WITHOUT the express permission of the recognized government.
The US became involved in the Syrian Civil War, initially, by providing material support to the anti-government opposition forces, in 2013. Note these were not anti-ISIL forces, but were actively engaged in armed revolt against the Assad government. The US later used the excuse of attacking ISIL forces for the launch of air and missile strikes against the country in 2014, without the permission of the Syrian Government. At the same time, the US government was actively pushing for the abdication or removal of Assad as the head of the Syrian government. Of note is the fact that ISIL took Aleppo away from anti-government rebels [supported by the US], which had taken control of the city from the Syrian government.
And, most importantly, two actions of the Obama administration made the rise of ISIL and other groups not only possible, but probable. the first was support for the “Arab Spring”. While this seemed to be a simple case of supporting the rise of democracy in Middle Eastern countries having a non-democratic, totalitarian rule, it became a vehicle for the rise of Islamic groups, most of which proved be even more totalitarian than the people they supplanted. And, it further served to encourage the rise of Islamic terrorist groups by inferring support for those groups, and their actions, from the US government. The second was the total withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq, in 2011. This allowed the parent organizations of ISIL to operate in Iraq with impunity and for ISIL evolve and to dominate.
So, the actions of the US government, under President Obama, served to create the current situation. The Assad government does not trust the US at all. The actions of the US government, including the bombing of the Syrian government held airbase, forced the Syrian government to turn to Russia for aerial support. And, the US has no authority under international law to violate the airspace or the territory of Syria, without the permission of the recognized government of that nation. Which is not forthcoming. So far, the US has committed several significant breaches of international law and has committed what was, ostensibly, an act of war [bombing the Syrian air base], by its action in Syria. Perhaps it is time for the liberals to adhere to the rule of law, which they require the rest of us to do.
The liberal wienies, in the US, created this situation. Now they are whining about it. And, no one trusts them to do anything to fix it. It is impossible to support the removal of the existing Syrian government and expect that government to allow the US to intercede on the behalf of its demonstrated enemies.
“Shut down the UN”? The late Senator from North Carolina, Jesse Helms, thought this was a great idea forty years ago.
Just one of many things Jesse was right about.
Loved me some Jesse.
The UN has 16 peacekeeping operations going on right now, mostly in Africa, but also in Lebanon, Pakistan, and Haiti. There are definitely valid arguments against the way the UN is governed and operates and even the very idea of the UN itself, but to say they do nothing isn’t accurate and misinforms his audience. This is an example where following the headlines doesn’t necessarily make you informed since plane crashes make the news but safe landings don’t.