Obama caved under last-minute pressure from Dempsey

(WMR)—WMR’s White House sources report that on the evening of Friday, August 29, President Obama was on track to launch a sustained 72-hour cruise missile and drone attack on pre-selected air defense and other strategic military targets in Syria.

Obama had been convinced by his national security adviser Susan Rice, UN ambassador Samantha Power, and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, all “Responsibility to Protect” advocates, that he could trump congressional approval for his attack by claiming that humanitarian operations do not require approval under the War Powers Resolution or Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

Many of Washington’s insiders went to bed Friday night firmly convinced that Obama would give the final order to attack Syria sometime during the early Saturday morning hours of August 30. However, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey. made a hurried trip to the White House during the early morning hours of Saturday to make one last final plea to hold off on any attack.

WMR has learned from White House sources that Dempsey told Obama that the president’s plan would not work. “If you do this, the plan will fail and you’ll get in deeper. And without congressional approval, you’ll be screwed,” Dempsey told Obama.

Dempsey’s warning about Congress had merit. Already, 210 House members signed a letter to Obama warning him not to attack Syria without congressional authorization. In addition, a head count showed that some Democrats would join Republicans in voting for impeachment if a bill were introduced.

Dempsey’s argument prevailed and Obama decided to hold off on any attack until Congress reconvenes after Labor Day. Obama decided he would seek a congressional vote to authorize a military strike on Syria, However, in overriding Rice, Power, Rhodes, and Secretary of State John Kerry, who all favored a military strike, Dempsey incurred the wrath of the R2P faction that dominates the National Security Council. State Department sources began spreading the word that Obama would still attack Syria without congressional approval. The Pentagon, on the other hand, pointed out that none of the National Security Council “heavies,” Rice, Power, or Rhodes had any military experience and that Kerry was channeling the wishes of his good friend Senator John McCain, who has consistently supported Al Qaeda-led rebels in Syria and Libya.

Obama has faced with another grim reality. Some within the Pentagon ranks are so displeased with Obama’s policies on Syria, they have let certain members of Congress of both parties know that “smoking gun” proof exists that Obama and CIA director John O. Brennan personally authorized the transfer of arms and personnel from Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al Sharia Islamist rebels in Libya to Syria’s Jabhat al Nusra rebels, who are also linked to Al Qaeda, in what amounts to an illegal “Iran-contra”-like scandal. The proof is said to be highly “impeachable.”

The developing scandal involves Turkish, Qatari, Lebanese, and Croatian firms and front operations; Qatar Airways Cargo; ousted officials of the Mohamed Morsi government of Egypt; small Turkish and Jordanian air service companies contracted by the CIA; Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud; the September 11, 2012 attack on the CIA annex in Benghazi; and “black” carve-out contracts with the U.S. Air Force.

Obama’s, Brennan’s, and then-CIA director David Petraeus’s knowledge of the operation was so intimate, Petraeus visited GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in October of last year to plead with him not to bring up the covert operation in the third presidential debate. Romney acceded to Petraeus’s request.

Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.

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Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).