I think we would be extremely foolish to become directly involved in the situation in Syria. For centuries the Middle East has been a quagmire of tribal disputes, warring factions, murky alliances, ulterior motives, and other violent behavior all wrapped up in (and often justified and sanctioned by) religious squabbles and differences. Most people that I know with any experience in that part of the world say that the mindset there is something that confounds our concept of common sense; and history has proven many times over that when outsiders (British, French, Russians, and now the US)get sucked into these conflicts, regardless of intentions, it usually ends badly for them and changes nothing.
We are often drawn into these situations due to the "humanitarian crisis" created by the fighting. I have compassion for the innocent victims caught in the middle, but this is reminiscent of the situation in Somalia in the early '90s...months and months of media images of starving refugees and desperate pleas for the US to provide food and medical services. We finally did intervene, and of course our military was the obvious organization with the logistical and secrity resources to do the job. But we and the UN walked into the middle of a vicious civil war among multiple shadowy factions (Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden among them) that put our troops in the crosshairs. When we left, bodybags and all, what had we achieved? Twenty years later, the country is still in shambles. I even heard that when "Blackhawk Down" was shown in that country years later, the audiences cheered when our troops were killed. If you think I am willing to put my children, or anyone elses, at risk for those people, you can forget it; part of my humanity has been hardened by these events. And what soldier wants to die for a miserable place they don't want to be and care nothing about, while their enemy you can hardly identify and who has a fanatical devotion to win at all costs? Militarily it is a losing proposition.
What concerns me now is that the Obama Adminstration is threatening unilateral military action, without congressional or UN backing (not that the UN carries any legitimacy in my mind), in support of people we seem to know little about. I recall that we were led into Iraq by an Iraqi (his name escapes me) whose information and legitimacy came into question after we were committed; he was later exposed to be using our power for his own agenda. We have also had our airpower assets used in Afghanistan, directed to targets supplied by local informants, only to discover we had spent millions of taxpayer dollars to help the "Hatfields" beat up on the "McCoys". Libya is still not stabilized, and serious questions remain about the attack in Benghazi; Egypt could be in a state of civil conflict for years to come; the president of Turkey is an Islamist who talks openly of a new Caliphate, and despises the particular clan that Syrian president Assad hails from; Iraq is still unstable, is wracked with violence, and may eventually come under the influence of Iran (as is Syria); there are many forces in the region trying to undermine established governments in other countries (Jordan and Lebanon, among others); and who knows what other surprises lurk beneath the surface. I think our leaders are either ignorant or truely believe that our involvement somehow carries weight; they are even using rhetoric similar to that of the previous adminstration on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, and are going in the face of opposition from China and Russia, who will likely be covertly involved on the other side and will work to thwart our efforts for their own reasons. I fear it could blow up in our faces; and if I were an Israeli, I'd be quite nervous about developments in my neighborhood right now.
We are often drawn into these situations due to the "humanitarian crisis" created by the fighting. I have compassion for the innocent victims caught in the middle, but this is reminiscent of the situation in Somalia in the early '90s...months and months of media images of starving refugees and desperate pleas for the US to provide food and medical services. We finally did intervene, and of course our military was the obvious organization with the logistical and secrity resources to do the job. But we and the UN walked into the middle of a vicious civil war among multiple shadowy factions (Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden among them) that put our troops in the crosshairs. When we left, bodybags and all, what had we achieved? Twenty years later, the country is still in shambles. I even heard that when "Blackhawk Down" was shown in that country years later, the audiences cheered when our troops were killed. If you think I am willing to put my children, or anyone elses, at risk for those people, you can forget it; part of my humanity has been hardened by these events. And what soldier wants to die for a miserable place they don't want to be and care nothing about, while their enemy you can hardly identify and who has a fanatical devotion to win at all costs? Militarily it is a losing proposition.
What concerns me now is that the Obama Adminstration is threatening unilateral military action, without congressional or UN backing (not that the UN carries any legitimacy in my mind), in support of people we seem to know little about. I recall that we were led into Iraq by an Iraqi (his name escapes me) whose information and legitimacy came into question after we were committed; he was later exposed to be using our power for his own agenda. We have also had our airpower assets used in Afghanistan, directed to targets supplied by local informants, only to discover we had spent millions of taxpayer dollars to help the "Hatfields" beat up on the "McCoys". Libya is still not stabilized, and serious questions remain about the attack in Benghazi; Egypt could be in a state of civil conflict for years to come; the president of Turkey is an Islamist who talks openly of a new Caliphate, and despises the particular clan that Syrian president Assad hails from; Iraq is still unstable, is wracked with violence, and may eventually come under the influence of Iran (as is Syria); there are many forces in the region trying to undermine established governments in other countries (Jordan and Lebanon, among others); and who knows what other surprises lurk beneath the surface. I think our leaders are either ignorant or truely believe that our involvement somehow carries weight; they are even using rhetoric similar to that of the previous adminstration on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, and are going in the face of opposition from China and Russia, who will likely be covertly involved on the other side and will work to thwart our efforts for their own reasons. I fear it could blow up in our faces; and if I were an Israeli, I'd be quite nervous about developments in my neighborhood right now.
