“Now, after careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets. This would not be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground. Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope. But I’m confident we can hold the Assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons, deter this kind of behavior, and degrade their capacity to carry it out.”
Such were the word spoken by President Obama on August 31st explaining to the American public why the United States is engaging in a confrontation with Syria.
The attack of the government of Syria against it’s own people it’s, without a doubt, a crime against humanity, I don’t think there is a single American that doesn’t find this act a cowardly, repulsive and despicable act. However, unlike the attack on Saddam Hussein – where there were no WOMD – this time we have very few allies. Perhaps it’s precisely because of the Iraq fiasco that our allies do not want to back us up on this, but regardless of the reasons of their refusal, the truth is we have almost no one on our side but we are going to take matters into our own hands… We are once more getting involved in someone else’s business and the outcome is almost predictable… I truly hope I’m wrong.
I love President Obama but I cannot approve this attack, at least not without knowing what comes next if things don’t go as planned. I want to know what’s “plan B”, or “C” or “D”? We have not been totally informed, we don’t know what will happen if our military strategy fails.
China and Russia can’t see eye to eye on almost anything, actually they’re enemies except when going against the US; then they are allies and both of them are forces that we don’t want to mess with and they are backing the Syrian government. Does the President think China and Russia are going to do nothing to help Syria against our attacks? What are the plans if China and Russia decide to defend the Syrian government? This attack could open the Pandora’s box or a can of worms and be the prelude for WWIII.
It is true that their own government indiscriminately slaughtered thousands of people, presumably innocent adults and for certain innocent children. I understand that the means in which these people were killed is illegal – the world has banned the use of chemical weapons – that these weapons could be used against anyone in the world and represents a clear and present danger to us all. But, where is diplomacy? Where have negotiations gone – with Syria and in case Syria doesn’t want to negotiate, with our allies and their allies? Why aren’t the neighboring countries intercede or join us? Aren’t they in more pressing urgency to disarm Assad or at minimum to negotiate with him than us?
What is happening in Syria is a civil war. No attacks or confrontations have occurred, yet, with neighboring countries, but by the US getting involved in what up to know has been a bloody and even unfair regional war – a civil war – it will turn into an international war that could easily evolve into WWIII.
It is not the first time a government has purposely mass murdered its own people and we have been idle. The government of Sudan has been doing it for a while; women, men and children are being blown to pieces in Darfur on a daily basis and while these massacres were taking place, we’ve condemned it, we spoke out against it but we did absolutely nothing. Where were we when the people of Rwanda were being slaughtered? We were infuriated, but we kept our distance from these killings. Why?
The difference between Rwanda, Sudan and Syria is not the color of the people’s skin; it’s not necessarily the danger to neighboring countries or the way these governments have chosen to kill their own people. No, it’s none of these. The truth is that our government feels irate and offended when atrocities such as these take place in equal proportion to the riches of the country perpetrating these massacres. If the country has no riches we don’t lift a finger, that’s the cruel reality. Syria is a rich country with access to our most desirable and precious commodity: oil and it is this commodity the trigger for our country to get involved in a war that is not ours, it is oil the lubricant that sets the wheels of war in motion, that turns us into the police of the world even when all we will accomplish is to amplify the hate the Middle East feels against us – this will only create more terrorists, more Al’ Qaeda’s militants that will perpetuate the never-ending “war on terror” achieving the same level of success as our “war on drugs.”
I know that my opinion will make no difference in what will take place and our involvement in Syria, but I have to let everyone know where I stand on this issue. I can’t support another war, any war for that matter, when our country is claiming to be broke, when we are taking food away from our own children, when we are closing schools and firing the teachers because we can’t afford them… but we are not broke to drone Pakistan or Iran, we’re not broke to spend trillions of dollars in an unsuccessful engagement in Afghanistan and now we are not broke to attack Syria. What about our own children? What about our seniors? When are we going to defend our children and seniors against poverty, our youth against a crowded classroom and a poor education? When can our seniors feel safe that the government is not going to cut their only source of income? When are we going to create more jobs? But of course, our poor, our children and our seniors don’t own an oil well so it’s perfectly fine to take away from them the dry bone we throw them to feed the monster of war.
To read the full transcript of President Obama's speech, click here.
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