Obama continues to flounder, delay will only help Assad

Obama compounded his litany of errors by delaying attack and attempting to secure Congressional approval. Looks like a good domestic political move, but otherwise it is a disaster.  It appears that  the Dems and conservative repubs might just give him the go-ahead.  The attack will be largely symbolic in effect.  Assad and his military leadership may be vicious and bloodthirsty, but they are not stupid.  As this article, and many others suggest, given the extra time to prepare for a potential attack, the Syrian government is hiding and shifting hardware, equipment and troops.  Much of it is being moved to inhabited civilian areas.  Further, Syria has oodles of chemical weapons storage sites.  How many of these may be hit with the release of deadly gas?  In the end, the attacks may kill more civilians and destroy more civilian property than important military assets.  Not everything can be moved, but the leadership will have time to hide themselves and their key communication assets.  If the attack comes, it will do little to damage the government's military capacity and may inflict tremendous civilian casualties.  It may provide a symbolic lift for the rebels, but, as suggested in a prior post, this attack will, on balance, only make things worse for civilians, regional stability and international relations.  It will provide new propaganda fodder for Muslim extremists and make it clear that the administration doesn't have a clue.  Given our national debt problems, further involvement and the slipper slope is  the last thing we need.  Thee major bills from Afghanistan have yet to be paid.

 I think we can expect the libertarians and tea party to vote against  Obama's request.  Most of the recent polls I have seen show that most of the public is against the attack.  Obama painted himself and us into the corner with his remarks about red lines and how Assad must go.  I hope Congress is not foolish enough to bail him out with a vote for the attack.