Monday, September 2, 2013

Collateral damages: In Syria, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions

All over Syria, people are dying. It has been going on for a couple of years now

Let us be honest with ourselves. All we really know is that the evidence is pretty convincing that a chemical weapon was used on civilians There were likely close to 1500 people killed in the use of that weapon, and the photographic evidence shows very clearly that at least more than 400 of the dead were children.  And this was likely not the First time a weapon like this has been used there.

    Do we really know who did it? I ask that question because I think before we play judge, jury and executioner, we damn well better be sure. We know that Syrian rebel forces have captured government facilities around the country. Are we absolutely sure that some rogue Al Queda element could not have done this precisely to provoke the United States and its' allies into a blundered involvement in this slaughter?

      I want to be clear, I have no use for the President of Syria. For decades his family has supported the Hezbollah folks who have launched numerous attacks against United States forces around the world. I remember a marine barracks in Beirut getting bombed in October 1983, killing 240 Marines.
   That was courtesy of Hezbollah, one of the players in the Syrian nightmare playing out live on Al-Jazeera and CNN nightly.

     "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend." That is terrible logic to try and apply here.

      It is way too easy for politicians to say stupid things about redlines being crossed, and much harder to find the morale high ground to actually do something about it.
      Both sides in Syria repulse me, and part of me wants to see them wipe each other out. But the other part of me knows that as members of humanity, we have a morale duty to protect the Innocents involved and try to find a way to end the bloodshed. I have never met a child that asked to be born into bloodshed.

      Which brings me to my sticking point. Since the Camp David Accords in 1979 that brought peace between Egypt and Israel, the Syrian Government has been busy building up its' own formidable Chemical weapons stockpile to counter a threat it perceived from Israel's Nuclear weapon's program.
     Who helped them with that? Why, Great Britain, Germany, Russia and China, for the most part. That's right, Industry in those countries made a tidy profit helping the Syrians build their arsenal.

   And that's why I think those responsible for giving them those weapons should take the lead in doing something about it. Why does America have to take the lead on this? We are going to be busy enough keeping Israel from getting drawn into the mess. In a crazy side note, Israel has been supplying medical care to Syrian refugees since the fighting started. Compassion knows no borders, why can't common sense?

       Russia is Syria's biggest ally, and the Chinese one of the biggest suppliers of missile technology and equipment. They should be the ones pressing to solve this problem, and getting advice from us, not the other way around. Assad is their guy, they should take responsibility for him.

     Unfortunately, I don't think that will ever happen. I also think we are damned if we do, and damned if we don't

     With all the war crap we got into under the previous President, I never feared the threat of a possible globally involved strife as I do now. You look at the history of what happened at Sarejevo in 1914, and how one assassination brought about a global conflict. Then compare that to Damascus today. I am not a conspiracy theorist or Rapture nut, but I see some serious political dominoes lining up to fall.
      The killing has to stop, so we are going to have to launch Cruise missiles and kill more people, some innocent, some not so Innocent. It reminds me of Vietnam, where we destroyed Villages to save them.

         I don't know what we should do, but I don't want to see us go down that road again. The road is once again paved with good intentions, and most assuredly it is still the road to Hell.

3 comments:

  1. chris, i have to take issue with your contention that syria's chemical weapon arsenal is a defense against a israeli nuclear attack. last week israelis stood in long lines to get gas masks in case syria unleashed it's rockets; clearly they consider syria's chemical weapons offensive.

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  2. Mike, the balance of power changed in the region when Egypt and Israel made peace. It was the motivation behind building that arsenal. I agree that Israel should find the Syrian chemical threat offensive. But how can we talk? We have had nukes aimed at us by either Russia or China for almost 50 years. Maybe America is complacent that the weapons won't be used. But it is obvious that someone over there felt gassing Syrian civilians was an acceptable thing to do.

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  3. Well done, Mr. Casey ... That is EXACTLY what former Yale JV hockey player JOHN KERRY is saying, "We have to kill people in order to show that killing people is wrong." ... (Yeah, that's right. The very same John Kerry Vietnam War Hero I Married Very Rich So Go Ahead And Tax Me Silly guy).

    Amazing how the U.S. still can't really say what REALLY happened at Benghazi but, yet, knew all about the Syrian chemical weapons thing within 15-20 minutes!

    Speaking of chemical weapons, to quote our next President Hillary Clinton --- "What difference does it make (if Assad kills his people with tanks or poison gas - the people are still dead either way)?

    The instances and levels of Hypocrisy at work here are truly astounding.

    Respectfully,

    ROLF OELER

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I welcome comments from real people, not robots. (Though I admit that with some extremists who have been programmed, you can't tell)