Struggling On Syria

Posted by Bob Lord

I'm glad it's not my decision how to handle the Syrian situation. I'd make a bad decider on this one. 

I have friends in the Syrian-American community here and have discussed the situation with them. They have family in Syria. They've lost loved ones to Assad. Make no mistake about it, Assad's pure concentrated evil. My Syrian friends are certain that the U.S. must act to avoid mass bloodshed. They may be right.

But when the drums of war start beating, I get a sick feeling. I'm about halfway through Jeremy Scahill's Dirty Wars and I just read a piece about Hans Blix's view of the situation. Political and military leaders love war, and Obama is no exception. We're now hearing it's a certainty that Assad used chemical weapons. He's clearly evil enough to do so, but why would he? Militarily, his situation is not desperate enough to call for chemical weapons and politically his use of them would be suicidal. Would he intentionally provoke U.S. involvement on the side of the rebels? 

And why is this more an Obama decision than a UN decision?

Ultimately, I don't believe we can engage on a limited basis. So American kids likely would die. I then have to ask myself if I'd be willing to risk losing one of my kids to a war in Syria, because if I'm not willing to go there, I can't expect any other parent to either. 

I guess I'm not there yet. 

Comments

[NidanGoju]

A mojority of Americans are with you on this Bob.

[Bruce Freiberg]

It has been fairly well documented that the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia have been providing weapons, cash and technological support for the Syrian "revolution" since at least 2007, when Dick Cheney met in Washington with Lebanese proxies of the Syrians to plan and implement the uprising. In other words, the US and Israel began this mess and have made sure that it has continued, regardless of the bloodbath that has followed.

It certainly seems as though "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" and "Which Path to Persia" are being actualized as an approach to solving Israel's perceived security problems. What else explains the clearly destructive path the US has followed for the last 10 years?

[movingazforward]

I think Ambassador Richard Butler, chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq, offers some good advice for President Obama.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/8/28/former-u-n-weaponsinspectorwesthasnoathoritywithinsyria.html

Butler is exceptionally qualified to be speaking on this issue; Obama should listen.

[Clay]

Another military involvement, and without UN or UK support. I don't like it.