Security

Don’t bomb Syria

One might think that our interventions in Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen would have convinced our leaders that poking our weapons into other countries is something we should do rarely and only with widespread international support.  With the recent war drums for attacking Syria, it is clear that our leaders seem not to have learned their lesson.

We oppose calls for bombing Syria.

The US has a long history of using chemical weapons, whether Agent Orange in Vietnam or depleted uranium ammunition in both of our wars with Iraq.  As recently released CIA documents show, we actively aided Saddam Hussein even though he used chemical weapons on Iranians during his invasion of Iran in the 1980s.  US calls for doing something about the Syrian government’s alleged use of nerve gas, is ironic at best.

Yet throwing bombs that cost us $500,000 and missiles that cost us even more at the Syrian government forces will not help the Syrians in their struggle for freedom.  Indeed, it is likely to cause even more deaths.

Make no mistake. We are democrats with a small d, and oppose authoritarian governments especially when they use force to keep themselves in power.  We cheered the Arab Spring whether in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen or Bahrain.  We cheered when Syrians used creative nonviolence to challenge their unelected government.  We continue to cheer their use of nonviolence even in the face of a violent and horrible civil war.

The Syrian people have the right to find their own path.  US military intervention isn’t likely to help the Syrian people, end the civil war or ensure that the peace ends up any better than Iraq or Egypt.

The civil war in Syria is a fight we need to stay out of.

Please:

Thank you.

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