The ONLY Case for Striking Syria

Presidential Credibility

When a president of the United States says that we will do "X" if "Y" happens, then when "Y" happens we must to "X."  

Assad did "Y."  Therefore Obama must do what he said he would do.

To not do it would be to diminish the credibility of presidential rhetoric, including that of future presidents.  That would be very unhealthy for the entire world.

So let's hope that doing "X" does a lot of collateral damage to the rebels, as well.  We do NOT want to weaken Assad enough that the rebels can prevail.  Frankly, gentle reader, your Ostrich Killer is in favor of this war stretching out far into the indefinite future.  Two of our enemies are fighting each other.  So there's no hurry to stop them.

That Fast Food Workers Strike

Go Ahead. Pay 'em.

But find ways to cut staff in half.  

The math works - double the pay, cut the staff in half.  Net result: a wash.

But wait, how can one cut the staff in half?  Aren't most of those fast food joints already low in staff?

No.  Next time you're in one of those places do a nose count of workers.  Now imagine the quality of people and work you'd get for twice the pay.  Could you replace two of those minimum wage workers with one better-paid, more ambitious worker?

And could you, as you wait there at the register for your Big Mac and watch all the activity back in the kitchen, imagine how investing in better kitchen machinery could result in further cutting staff?  Why not an automated fry maker, for example?  Drop the spuds in the top at the start of the day, and harvest fresh hot fries all day long at the push of a button.  That's at least two staff positions right there that could be eliminated.

How about pre-cooked burgers that only need a quick nuking?  Sure, that might not be 'fresh,' but they would be more like home cookin' to many of us.  Or if you just MUST have 'fresh,' how about a cooking conveyor like they use for doughnuts at Krispy Kreme?  A machine drops wads of dough (hamburgers, for us) onto what amounts to a conveyor and it moves them along the cooking route, until they come out done at the far end.  No cook needed.  There's another at least two staff positions.  Or even more than two, if you count shift changes.  The french fries and burger cooking could all be handled by one virtual button-pusher working from home over the internet.  Hell, he could probably handle that for more than one store.

Put your Ostrich Killer in charge of reducing staff and watch the bottom line swell.

Of course, that would mean that half the staff - the least valuable, slow-moving knuckle-dragging half that's let go because they're not worth the money they're already being paid, much less what they want - would be unemployed . . . but their co-workers, the ones who actually work and produce, would be better paid.  And worth the money, mostly.

Another cup of coffee now.  You're welcome.  And by the way, if you know John Galt, have him drop me a note, will you?

Flak Trap

Syrians Have Russian Air Defense Systems

Russia has sold Syria many different types of military hardware, including some pretty exotic air defense systems.  Russia has a habit of providing Russian crews for their more sophisticated weapons.

They also like to test newer systems in actual combat, if they get sufficient notice to allow them to deploy those systems in a combat theater.

American standard procedures include neutralizing enemy air defenses.  Will that mean killing Russians?  Only Putin knows for sure.  But you can be sure he'll tell us if it happens.

In the meantime,  some Syrian or Russian schemer is trying to figure out where and how the Americans will hit so they can build a flak trap.

What's a 'flak trap?'  It's a scheme to lure attacking aircraft into an area where they can be surprised by large volumes of deadly anti-aircraft fire.  It can also be a valuable target array that is protected by large volumes of different types of anti-aircraft systems - guns and missiles, low and high altitude, etc.

Let's hope they don't out-think our strike planners, because our pilots will pay the price if they do.

An Old Arab Saying

Sometimes The Best Course of Action is None

Syrians are killing each other.  On one side, the rebels are in bed with Al Qaeda and hezbollah.  On the other side the government is repressive and is killing rebels and, through what appears to be collateral damage, others.

Whichever of these two forces prevails, you can be sure they won't be friends of us or our allies.  So why do we care which one wins?

Old Arab saying:  "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Al Qaeda is our enemy.  The Syrian government is our enemy.  They are killing each other.

What could be better?  Both are doing our work for us.

Oh - chemical weapons, right?  That means we have to stop it, right?  

Why does it matter if people die from chemical poisoning instead of being riddled with shrapnel from artillery?  They're equally dead either way.

If the rest of the civilized world deplores the use of chemical weapons sufficiently, maybe they will risk the lives of their young military men and women and intervene.  But I doubt it.  Therein is another even better reason for us to NOT intervene.

Let 'em keep killing each other.  Let the rest of the world whine and wring their hands and make stirring meaningless speeches.

If that sounds heartless, o gentle reader, your Ostrich Killer was rooting for both sides in the Iran - Iraq war too.  Remember that war?  Reagan the Realist was selling obsolete, about-to-be scrapped TOW missiles to Iraq and tank ammo and other arms to Iran.  Then he sent the money to the pro-American rebels (Contras) in Nicaragua.  Remember the Iran-Contra affair?  Your Ostrich Killer thought that was a stroke of genius.  

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."  Indeed.