US President Barack Obama’s reasons for backpedaling from his 2013 threat to bomb Syria were based on pragmatic and political concerns rather than principle, an international lawyer and political analyst says.
Barry Grossman, who is based on the Indonesian island of Bali, told Press TV on Friday that Obama’s tactic of distinguishing military interventions which fall short of an invasion or openly declared war and therefore, in his strange view, do not need to meet the international requirements for legal warfare, from full scale wars which he seems to concede may require some underlying legitimate mandate and legality.
In my view, it is this contrived distinction which makes up the real Obama Doctrine, said Grossman, who was commenting on Obama’s lengthy interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, published by The Atlantic on Thursday.
Obama told Goldberg that he is “proud” that he stood up to intense pressure in 2013 and refused to order airstrikes…