Our Syrian Dilemma

 

 

 

"Sometimes the acts of omission are as heinous as the acts of commission"

 

Oh boy. There is a developing cat fight within the Democratic power tent. Two of the most beloved Democrats (since FDR) are having a very public spat about the world's biggest trouble spot - Syria. The following was taken from today's Politico article:

Bill Clinton told Sen. John McCain he agrees that President Barack Obama should act more forcefully to support anti-Assad rebels in Syria, saying the American public elects presidents and members of Congress “to see down the road” and “to win.”
At another point during a closed-press event Tuesday, Clinton implied that Obama or any president risks looking like “a total fool” if they listen too closely to opinion polls and act too cautiously. He used his own decisions on Kosovo and Bosnia as a point of reference.

If I may, I would like to read between the lines and offer my two cents worth. Barack Obama is haunted by - Barack Obama. Not wanting to be George W. Bush, President Obama continues to vote "present" on very important matters such as Syria. President Obama is scared to death to have his already shaky legacy further tarnished by getting into a unpopular war like his predecessor did.

Bill Clinton, the other hand, is haunted by - Rwanda. Our former president may tout his successes in Kosovo and Bosnia (even though the guy he helped remove, Slobodan Milošević, was a light weight compared to Saddam Hussein), his singular focus on the Balkans allowed a modern day horror in Africa to unfold before our eyes.

The 1994 Rwandan slaughter was a modern day genocide, plain and simple. While the people in that forlorn part of the world cried out for help, the feckless United Nations again did NOTHING and the United States turned a blind eye. When it was all said and done, Human Right Watch estimates the death toll in that tiny nation ranged from between 500,000 and 1,000,000. That is as much as 20% of the total population.

It is true the number of people killed so far in Syria's civil was is estimated to be around 90,000, it is not nearly as large as what happened in Rwanda. However, the Syrian people, like the Rwandan people, have been crying out for help since the conflict began. The United Nations? Voting "present". The United States? Same thing.

Even though I am not in favor of doing nothing, I will say this in its defense - who are the good guys in this conflict? When my dad was still alive, he would warn about getting involved in conflicts in the Middle East. Some of the tribal aspects of this warfare goes back generations, many, many generations. It is complicated and messy. Some of the crap done by the rebels is hard to defend (they decapitated a young boy yesterday) and Assad's troops have been anything but humane.

My opinion is simple - if we are to get involved, have a clear purpose. Know how to get in, what determines victory (or mission accomplished), and when to get out. If we have learned nothing else from Iraq, we should have learned that. Our national treasure is too valuable to once again be spilled in Middle East sand for a conflict which is as nebulous as it is heinous. However in the mean time, let the national debate continue.