(OT) Obama's Chief of Staff Says Military Attack on Syria Is to Teach Iran a Lesson (UPDATED)

(UPDATE 9/9/2013) "Coalition of the willing" has added new members. See the list at the bottom.

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Rumor has it (other than the amount of money each candidate cities spent on winning the hearts and minds of IOC members) that Istanbul lost because of its proximity to Syria and Middle East. (See Xinhua news, for one.)

True that this Olympic is for 2020 not this year or the next, but it seems the recency bias worked on the IOC members.

The reason for the Obama administration to attack Syria continues to shift, and the latest reason was offered by Obama's Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on NBC "Meet the Press" by David Gregory on Sunday, September 8, 2013.

It's about teaching IRAN, not Syria, a lesson.

But instead of attacking Iran to teach the lesson, the Obama administration wants to attack Syria.

Now that's clear, I wonder how many Senators and Congressmen/women will rush to the support of the President.

From NBC News (9/8/2013):

McDonough says attack on Assad regime would send message to Iran

By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Sunday that an impending U.S. attack on Syria would send a message to Iranian leaders that they should not feel free to develop nuclear weapons.

“This is an opportunity to be bold with the Iranians,” McDonough said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

He said, “nobody is rebutting the intelligence; nobody doubts the intelligence” that is the basis for President Barack Obama pinning the blame for an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria on President Bashar Assad's regime which is fighting to suppress a rebellion that began in 2011.

McDonough noted that “our troops have not been subject to chemical weapons attacks since World War I” and argued that “we have to make sure that for the sake of our guys – our men and women on the front lines – that we reinforce this prohibition against using chemical weapons.”

If Assad is not deterred, he will put chemical weapons on the front lines in his battle against the Syrian rebels and that would mean “a greater risk of them being proliferated” and perhaps falling into terrorists’ hands, McDonough argued.

He added that “the momentum on the battle field will be changed by a targeted, limited effort” but he said ultimately “there’s not a military resolution” to the civil war in Syria, only a “political, diplomatic resolution.”

(Full article at the link)

In the video segment at the link, Mr. Gregory shows the Youtube video (he doesn't say it's from Youtube) which was then edited by the State Department for public consumption and breathlessly explains that was the work of the Assad regime.

"Nobody is rebutting the intelligence, nobody doubts the intelligence"? I've seen several already, including the one from Russians on March 2013 attack, and the one from the retired US military and intelligence officers. I suppose Mr. McDonough's "nobody" means "nobody" in the administration and in the US Congress who are in support of attacking Syria.

So far, the "coalition of the willing" for Obama on attacking Syria includes:

10 countries at G20 who signed the joint statement with the US):
Australia
Canada
France
the U.K. (even though the Parliament voted No)
Italy
Japan
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
Spain
Turkey

(and)
few unnamed Arab countries, as per Secretary Kerry

(as of 9/9/2013, according to Washington Times)
Albania
Croatia
Denmark
Estonia
Germany
Honduras
Hungary
Kosovo
Latvia
Lithuania
Morocco
Qatar
Romania
United Arab Emirates

The Japanese government pretends as if the statement they signed at G20 was not about military intervention.

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