Don’t you understand what I’’m tryin’ to say

Can’t you feel the fears I’’m feelin’ today?

If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away

There’’ll be no one to save, with the world in a grave

[Take a look around ya boy, it’s bound to scare ya boy]

And you tell me

Over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don’t believe

We’re on the eve

Of destruction.

– “Eve of Destruction” Barry McGuire

I know that every generation since my parents’, the Greatest Generation, have had to live with the specter of nuclear annihilation hanging over their heads.

It has been a fact of life.

I even remember the old “Duck and Cover” movies, which they showed to school children. Those movies advised kids to get under their desk in the event of a nuclear attack by a foreign power.

Also, when I was young, I remember having the stew scared out of me by a low budget movie titled “This is Not a Test”. It concerned a Sheriff’s Deputy, out on a highway stopping people and herding them into a tractor trailer, because a bunch of nuclear warheads were on their way.

Then, of course, there was “The Day After” a made-for-TV movie starring the late, great Jason Robards and Police Academy’s Steve Guttenberg.  Again, this movie was about a nuclear attack and it’s aftermath.

All these images had an impact on me as I got older.

Now, the Republican Senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, is trying to instill that same fear into all of us, over the Syria situation…

“I don’t want another Iraq or Afghanistan war because that’s just not what we need to do,” he said, before outlining his support for a contained military strike designed to degrade Syria’s ability to deliver chemical weapons in the future and assist those who want to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

But Graham has heard the counterarguments. He knows many are skeptical that replacing Assad would install leadership that’s any more favorable to U.S. interests, even in the military friendly Palmetto State. In fact, a common refrain across the country is that the alternative could be far worse.

“Rebel opposition forces are our sworn enemies. We’ve spent billions of dollars in one country trying to wipe them off the face of the planet ­ al-Qaida. And yet we employ the strategy of funding them and giving them weapons in Syria to get Assad?” asked Jesse Graston, who traveled nearly three hours from Rock Hill, S.C., and forked over the $12 in order to corner the senator.

Facing that strain of skepticism, Graham wound up his case on Syria intervention by raising the stakes considerably. He painted a frightening picture of cascading world events that would reverberate far beyond the borders of a civil war in one Middle Eastern country.

If the United States doesn’t deal with Syria, Graham promised Iran would acquire a nuclear weapon by 2014, the King of Jordan would be deposed and Israel would start preparing to protect itself.

“I believe that if we get Syria wrong, within six months — and you can quote me on this,” Graham said, pausing for dramatic effect. “There will be a war between Iran and Israel over their nuclear program.”

But it wouldn’t even end there, Graham surmised. Undoubtedly, he said ominously, the Iranians would share its nuclear technology with U.S. enemies.

“My fear is that it won’t come to America on top of a missile, it’ll come in the belly of a ship in the Charleston or New York harbor,” he said.

And now, for the first time in my 54 years, I am afraid of the President of the United States.

I am afraid that Barack Hussein Obama is leading us straight into World War III.

Lt. Col. Allen West, is as concerned as I am…

When you study history and understand the series of uncontrollable events that began WW I, we find ourselves not too far from that position now. It’s not just about taking military action against Assad (which in the press conference Obama seemed reticent about), it is about the unintended consequences. President Putin has vowed to continue arms shipments and support, and Iran is issuing orders to its Islamic terrorist dogs for release. The window of opportunity for a quick’ decisive response against Assad has closed. We cannot afford to destabilize another Middle Eastern country in favor of Islamists and establish terrorist sanctuaries. My recommendation? Instead of President Obama delivering a weak’ politically-scripted speech on Tuesday, read “The Guns of August” and learn something about leadership and strategic policymaking.

Growing up, my generation was always told that it only takes one weak, vacillating person in power, who hates America, pressing a button, to bring about total annihilation.

We just never dreamed that it could be the President of the United States.

Until He Comes,

KJ