Thursday, May 31, 2012

When Is Enough Enough In Syria?

I hate war.  Anyone who reads me with any regularity knows it.  I hated the wars we've been involved in and I hate the ones we're not involved in.

On the other hand there comes a time when human decency demands action.  Night after night on the news we are witness to mass graves being filled with mostly women and children.  Government troops are slaying the population with impunity while the world sits back and watches.

 Man's inhumanity to man.  Which is worse?  What the Syrian army is doing to it's own people or what the rest of the world is doing by doing nothing?   My blood really boils when our government officials are asked why we don't intervene in some capacity and we're told it's because we "don't know who these people are", meaning the opposition.  Does it matter?

Leveling the playing field need not mean American boots on the ground.  It could mean providing arms. Or air power.  Something!  We're supposedly smart people.  But then we're supposedly compassionate too.  The UN is once again a toothless tiger because Russia opposes everything so there will be no help there.  We could do as Bill Clinton did in Bosnia when he got to the point when enough was enough.  He went it alone.

As for not knowing who the opposition is, I don't buy it. The Wall Street Journal had an article on it just today. If they know, certainly our government knows.  A lot of what has been happening in the Middle East doesn't please us.  We seem to ignore their culture and beliefs and act so surprised when they actually elect Islamists to government.  Why not?  They are Islamist countries!  The important thing is they were given the opportunity to vote.  We can't dictate the outcome and should quit trying.  Look what we have in Afghanistan.

One thing of which I'm fairly certain is that the people of Syria will long remember who helped them - and who did not.  If I'm going to bet on who a new government will be more friendly toward, regardless of ideologies, I'll bet on those who helped.


4 comments:

Margie's Musings said...

Somehow I can't imagine Jesus going to war and abandoning negotiations.

When will we ever have peace in the world and when will we ever stop trying to fight everyone's battles?

We have plenty of violence in America. If another country decided to intervene with planes or bombs or even weapons, we would be up in arms about it.

Mari Meehan said...

We would indeed be up in arms, but then I can't imagine our government slaughtering it's own people. Like it or not there then should be intervention from the outside.

Word Tosser said...

it reminds me of what the world must have been like in the late 1930's as Hilter ran across the countries, mass burials and the camps and the world did nothing.
I don't understand why all the countries aren't up in arms about this.

Margie's Musings said...

Maybe we're all bankrupt over the last two wars and can't really afford to intervene. The stock market fell 270 points today and I think it's going to get worse in the world before it gets better.