It’s heartwarming to recall the words of President Obama when the people of Libya were faced with death from the heavily armed forces of the late strongman Muammar Qadhafi:

“In this particular country, Libya, at this particular moment, we were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale,” Obama said. “We had a unique ability to stop that violence: an international mandate for action, a broad coalition prepared to join us, the support of Arab countries and a plea from the Libyan people themselves.

“To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and, more profoundly, our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are.” 

Luckily, Syrians are less worthy than Libyans, or we might wonder why, as the Syrian Prime Minister defects to Jordan, as air power is unleashed on innocent Syrians in both Aleppo and Damascus, as the rebels hold swaths of territory in parts of the country, the President of the United States feels that “America’s responsibility as a leader and, more profoundly, our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances” doesn’t really apply.

I have said “for shame” so many times in the case of Obamas’s disgraceful record on Syria that the words are nigh on meaningless. The man has no compassion and no strategic sense. Is it any wonder the people of Syria feel betrayed by the United States of America? They have been, and when they are masters of their own fate, let them ask Barack Obama why their lives were worth so little to him.