In the 2008 election, I wrote an article  "10  things to consider in the voting booth" an appeal to support Barack Obama's election.  I would do that again and I would also, given the political realities that exist in the U.S. and have existed for a long time, once more support his election, not only as a lesser of the available evils, but for the small but significant advances his administration has made on a variety of domestic policy issues against a Republican opposition commiited to sabotaging all of this initiatives in the House of Representatives and then undermining them further at the state level

But I cannot in any way support  the administration's proposed intervention in the Civil War raging in Syria.  It must be opposed and condemned, both for what it means to U.S. foreign policy and to future of the Obama administration.    We can't blame the Republican Right here for sabotaging and undermining the administration.  It is doing that to itself and, the tens of millions of Americans who supported it in two national elections should act now to save it from itself

So Here are ten reasons to oppose and condemn the administration's policy

1.  It is unilateral intervention, opposed by the United Nations General Secretary and even NAT0 bloc allies.  This is a textbook case of the Bush policies, which tens of millions of voters repudiated in 2008 when they voted against John McCain, who is a staunch supporter of this intervention

2. Those who support in a knee jerk way military interventionism overwhelmingly oppose the administration's progressive initiatives and the President himself.  Acts like this increase their influence in society

3. Those who oppose this intervention are both the same people and their likeminded descendants who opposed the Vietnam War intervention and escalations, the Reagan Contra Wars in Central America, Bush the Father's first Gulf War, and Bush' the Son's Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.  Lyndon Johnson, with a large congressional majority and a progressive Supreme Court, destroyed his own great Society Program in the late 1960s by his Vietnam War escalation. Barack Obama risks making his administration hostage in its last two years to a Republican controlled House and Senate by this intervention

4. Syria is a medium sized country with advanced weapons, including missiles that can hit planes and ships.  The danger exists  that Syrian actions(which would in this case be in self defense) might result in further escalating the conflict and U.S. involvement in it.

5. No one should really believe that the action will deter the use of chemical weapons in the future.  In the 1980s, the Reagan administration tacitly supported Hussein's use of chemical weapons against the Iranians and used its influence in the United Nations to bloc UN condemnations of the use of such weapons.  Retaliation in kind did not prevent the use of such weapons in WWI.  Unilateral actions will in all probabilty increase the possibility that such weapons will be used.

6. The Intervention can only be seen as an act of imperialism through the region, undermining any positive role that the U.S. might play in the future

7. The military intervention, with or without congressional approval, can  only intensifiy conflicts in Egypt, Iraq, throughout the Arabic speaking world, strengthening both reactionary clerical forces struggling against repressive military backed regimes, with tens of millions of Arabic speaking people suffering the consequences

8. Even if one supports the U.S. policy of gunboat/dollar diplomacy, begun in the Western Hemisphere more than a century ago and globalized with the Truman Doctrine and the cold war, that is, the  creation of "protectorates," "satellites," "client states" there is no one in this conflict, between the Baath party dictatorship and its diverse enemies, who in any way represent either political rights for the people  Syria, economic and social progress for the people of Syria, or any possible regime to emerge from the fighting that will represent U.S. economic interests.

9. The likely political winners from an upcoming vote will be the "tea party" Republicans, whose likely opposition to the intervention will strengthen theme nationally among voters hostile to the Obama policy, just as the Obama administration's failure to address the jobs question effectively and its apparent "bailouts" of Wall Street and Industry  led to their victories in  the 2010 congressional elections

10.  The major winner in terms of political economy will be the major institutional enemy of progress in the United States since the end of WWII, the military industrial complex, which feeds off all militarist involvements and escalations to keep draining more and more resources away from the American people. 

Groups are ciculating petitions  through the Internet for citizens to contact their congressional representatives.  Also, for those in the New York area, a demonstration is planned for Times Square, 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, against the Intervention  this Saturday at 1 PM.