Ominous new White House warning on Syria calls the situation a 'humanitarian crisis'; sound familiar?

Maybe coincidence, but....

When President Obama launched missiles and warplanes against Libya's longtime dictator Col. Kadafi in March, it came after a series of public warnings from both the president himself and his press secretary, Jay Carney, in support of pro-democracy demonstrators and against the regime's violent reactions.

The ongoing attacks against Libya, which Obama said would last days not weeks, began as the president launched several days of travel around South America.

Obama later justified the aggressive U.S. and NATO action against Libya as necessary to snuff the "threat" of a humanitarian crisis in Benghazi where the ruler had vowed to kill protesting civilians.

At that time critics pointed to Syria, Yemen and elsewhere as places where violent repressions were already occurring and wondered about possible U.S. actions there, as well as an over-commitment of U.S. forces, now involved three military conflicts.

Remarkably, no use of the word "threat" in today's short and stern White House statement by Carney. Scroll down for the full text.

Carney flatout calls the deadly crackdown by Syrian security forces an existing "humanitarian crisis." Rights organizations estimate more than 1,000 civlians have died there in recent weeks at the hands of security forces of President Bashir al Assad.

One other coincidence: Obama is spending the weekend at Camp David. After his Sunday return the travels to another jobs event in North Carolina, fundraisers in Miami and then offshore to an official visit to Puerto Rico.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Statement by the Press Secretary on Syria

The Syrian government’s offensive in northern Syria has created a humanitarian crisis.

The United States calls upon the Syrian government to stop this violence, and to give the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) immediate, unfettered access to this region to care for the needs of wounded individuals, detainees, and internally displaced civilians.

Syrian leaders have no excuse for denying humanitarian assistance by a neutral body like the ICRC.  If Syria's leaders fail to provide this access, they will once again be showing contempt for the dignity of the Syrian people.    ####

RELATED:

More deadly violence in Syria draws new White House warning

Again, Obama warns Syria about using violence against pro-democracy demonstrators

Now after all the warnings to Libya, Obama is warning Syria about violence against democratic forces

Photo: ICEF Roderick Eubanks / U.S. Navy (a U.S. Tomahawk missile heads toward Libya from the USS Barry, March 19).

Comments

[A.R.]

I'd be shocked if we go into Syria. Syria doesn't produce much oil, not like Libya. If Obama does, then I would be supprised

[Native Angeleno]

This is how the black Herbert Hoover starts new wars a la George W Bush, for the sake of a political goal and most definitely not for the sake of the humanity war puts INTO crisis---on two continents.

[FennecFox]

The Security Council is paralyzed by Russia and China to do anything meaningful to stop mass killings of unarmed Syrians. This is an ongoing genocide, and something must be done about it. Here is a viable alternative for Western democracies to help the poor Syrians:
Help Turkey carve a safe haven for fleeing Syrians in Syria’s north (Turkey is already talking about this without the need for UN authorization since this a national concern now), and make it a basis for Syria’s democratic opposition to form an interim government and organize themselves to fight to liberate their country from the regime. The interim government could draw support (political, financial, and military) from sympathetic Arab countries like Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and soon Libya. No need for NATO to intervene, the weak Syrian army is very divided and Turkey alone will be enough to keep it in check. Liberated, Syria will be modeled along the Turkish example, possibly conservative, but liberal and democratic, pro-Western and anti-Iranian. A democratically representative government is the only guarantee for stability and peace in the region.

[Mike]

Funny, no mention of the covert nuclear program? Oh, probably don't want to offend the Iranian Regime or nothing.

[Quayle]

Maybe Obama will surpass his own remarkable greatness and become the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to conduct not four, but five simultaneous wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.)

[Robert E]

Obama is the biggest threat.

[egoist]

If it took Obama hours (of sleep) to decide to finally put UBL down, and legal technicalities room to shoot the pirates, I wonder how much struggle it is for him to launch one of the expeditions? I wonder how he looks at these things, when they're sort of faceless, does that somehow make it easier? *** I've heard Leonard Peikoff (Objectivist) say something like: there ought to be only one kind of war - all out war.

[sagi]

Humanitarian crisis?

Everything is, especially for the current administration.

It gets around those nasty Constitutional requirements, those pesky lawmakers, and those inconvenient public disclosures about the facts.

That "kinetic military action" phrasing from a few weeks ago seems to have had a short shelf life. Wonder how long this one will last?

[teapartydoc]

I sure hope we don't have a humanitarian crisis at my house. Or at least, if we do, I hope the president doesn't hear about it. Big-time clean-up job.