Jo Vanne Trivilegio

A.B. Political Science 4

Obamas Hidden Agenda
A Christian could be a soldier and serve God and country honourably. Individuals
should not resort immediately to violence; God has given the sword to government for
good reason. Christians as part of government should not be ashamed to protect peace
and punish wickedness. These are the wise words by Saint Augustine in accordance to
the justification of war. Is its purpose only to safeguard peace and to punish
wickedness? Or do our leaders use war on their own self interest?
The Obama administration is continuing this push for intervention in Syria.
They're working on getting approval from Congress. The U.S. will not even seek UN
authorization for a possible intervention. Obama and Putin are meeting in Russia to get
Putin to sign off on the strike.
The way to go against another country except self defense is to go to the
Security Council in the United Nations and get a majority of nine to agree to the use of
force. And that has to include the permanent members, or at least they can't veto it. In
this case, you would need both China and Russia to at a minimum abstain from doing it,
from giving a veto, or approve it one way or another. And the United States apparently
doesn't think it can get it.
Even if they get the U.S. Congress to approve the bombing of Syria, which is not
100 percent clear, and we can talk about that, but it's 100 percent they'll get that, but
even were they to get it, they would still need authority from the Security Council of the
United Nations. And if they don't get it, it's an illegal war; it's an illegal use of force. It's a
war crime. It would be considered a crime of aggression. It's the kind of crime that the
Jo Vanne Trivilegio
A.B. Political Science 4
Germans were tried for at Nuremberg. That's where actually the crime of aggression
came out of. It's a war crime to not get UN authority.
If you were U.S.A would you sacrifice your time and resources on just protecting
peace and punish those who are wicked? I think not, U.S.A has a hidden agenda on
pushing for intervention in Syria.
German-Prussian soldier and military theorist named Clausewitz stressed that
War is the continuation of politics by other means. This means that war has been
purely for the advancement of the nation. Politics is taken from the Greek word
Politikos meaning "of, for, or relating to citizens". It is a process in which groups of
people make collective decisions. All warfare is based on the process of making
decisions; in which the actions are carried out in battle; stand-offs, or even presence in
the Area Objective. Therefore war is not separate from politics; it is in fact; a
continuation thereof.
If we are to define politics; we need more than a simple phrase taken from a long list of
definitions. Meriam-Webster elaborates on it as; saying:

"The art of or science concerned with guiding or influencing the governmental policy/The art or
science concerned with winning and holding control over a government."

If we are to apply these definitions; then we can clearly see examples that point to what
Clausewitz was saying.
Again; our actions can clearly see this set into motion. The art of war is defined
by Clausewitz as an act "to compel our adversary to do our will". Such agenda is a
Jo Vanne Trivilegio
A.B. Political Science 4
political objective. Our "will" is our policy. Our policy is achieved through enforcing it
upon our enemy. These are the words of Carl von Clausewitz. The objective in war is to
win and hold control over our enemy forces; and of our enemy government. So again;
the act of war is to 'compel our adversary to do our will" meaning it is to obtain political
control and not to protect peace and punish the wicked.

Sources:
"Truthout." Truthout. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Sept. 2013. <http://truth-
out.org/video/item/18660-us-attack-on-syria-violates-international-law>.
^ Clausewitz, Carl von (1984) [1832]. Howard, Michael; Paret, Peter, eds. On
War [Vom Krieg] (Indexed ed.). New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 87. ISBN
978-0-691-01854-6.
Pleitgen, Frederik, Chelsea J. Carter, Barbara Starr, Lesa Jansen, Ben
Brumfield, Elise Labott, Nick Paton Walsh, Jim Acosta, Max Foster, and
Bharati Naik. "'War-weary' Obama Says Syria Chemical Attack Requires
Response." CNN. Cable News Network, 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 07 Sept. 2013.
<http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/30/world/europe/syria-civil-war>.