Australia and the Netherlands have just declared that they hold Russia responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17. When that plane was shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, 193 Dutch citizens, 27 Australians, and 63 other innocents died.
But as former Obama administration officials now criticize President Trump’s Iran and North Korea policies, we should remember just how pathetic Trump’s predecessor was in his handling of MH-17’s destruction.
While the Russian government quickly denied any culpability for the aircraft’s demise, the collection of forensic and intelligence-driven facts almost immediately showed that MH-17 was shot down by a Russian Buk missile system assigned to the Russian army. And as John Schindler reported on Friday, Russian soldiers were controlling the system when it was used against MH-17. President Barack Obama knew all of this very shortly following the incident.
In the hours that followed the crash, Obama was also informed that Russian intelligence officers and special forces had arrived at the wreckage site and begun removing impact evidence of the Buk system’s involvement. The president was also made aware that the Russians had directed their rebel allies to deny Ukrainian and international investigator access to the wreckage site.
That makes what Obama did not do next inexcusable.
Now enraged by what their citizens had just suffered and Russian efforts to deny effective repatriation and investigation, the Australian and Dutch governments prepared to conduct a special forces operation to secure the crash site. They knew that even Russian President Vladimir Putin was embarrassed by what had happened. However, before taking action, they wanted U.S. support.
Their cause for believing in the U.S. was understandable. After all, their ambition wasn’t a march on Moscow or even a striking operation at pro-Russian rebel strongholds in Ukraine. Instead, they sought a multinational task force deployment to secure the crash site. They knew that a U.S. Ranger battalion (specifically trained for just this kind of operation), Australian SAS squadron, and Dutch Korps Commandotroepen could have rapidly secured the site and annihilated any rebels who decided to contest their arrival. Putin would have ceded the site on the arrival of that force.
One problem? Obama.
With the French jets fueled and waiting to strike Bashar Assad following his 2013 breach of Obama’s “red line,” the American president’s resolve evaporated. Instead of supporting a limited military operation alongside very close U.S. allies, Obama enacted the Rhodes doctrine. He issued a series of increasingly bland statements (presumably written by Ben Rhodes) condemning the atrocity and warning of consequences.
Of course, no serious consequences were ever imposed, and Putin got the message that he could escalate his aggression in Ukraine without riposte (remember: Unlike Trump, Obama even refused to deploy anti-tank weapons to Ukraine).
Did Obama learn from his mistake?
Not a chance. Confidently declaring that Putin’s later injection of forces into Syria would end in a quagmire, as Obama left office, the Russian president would end up burying Obama’s credibility in the ruins of Aleppo.
