As someone who was a child and an adolescent during Vietnam, I have always hated war, and I have never been very trusting of the government’s push toward most war actions since then. From that period on, I’ve marched against many of our too frequent US military interventions around the globe.
I can only think of one war that I wish had been fought with more intent: World War II. I wish President Roosevelt had decided to bomb the entries to the death camps, and had taken other actions to prevent the Final Solution. I was glad that President Clinton got involved in Bosnia, because I want “Never again” to mean something more than an empty phrase. How I wish we had found a way to prevent the killing fields of Rwanda.
So we stand on the precipice of doing something in Syria, not to end the violent, bloody civil war, where more than 100,000 people, many of whom were women and children, have died. The use of chemical weapons has been called the “red line” that means some sort of intervention, at a time when we are reasonably weary of war. While the 1,400 people are a small drop in the bucket of death in Syria, the means of their death makes a huge difference. So many Jews died from chemical weapons—Zyklon B—during the Shoah. We said, “Never again.” Did we mean it then? Do we mean it now?
When Hitler began his march across Europe, it is said that he watched what happened in Spain, and when the world stood by and did nothing, he took his cue. Had some nation stepped in earlier, in Czechoslovakia or Austria, maybe that war would have been avoided.
Syria is different: it is a civil war in which it is hard to root for anyone. The leader is a tyrant who is willing to kill his own people. The rebels are a disparate group of people unable to work together, and their methods and goals are also troubling. How the US or Israel would become involved in an effective, helpful manner seems a complete mystery.
But, again, use of chemical weapons is different: If the world stands by silently, tacitly letting it happen, not only is it likely that Assad will use them again, but other nations and rebels will know that the taboo against them has been breached and they too can use them. Weapons of mass destruction, the very weapon that killed so many of our people, will become the norm.
My whole body and soul says, “NO. NO. NO.” This cannot stand.
I do not want a meaningless, or worse, dangerous attack, a few cruise missiles with the message, “Don’t do it, but if you do, all we’ll do is slap your wrist.” And I fear the House of Representatives not being able to see past the partisan politics they are mired in.
My preference would be to take Assad before the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague and put him on trial for war crimes, for crimes against humanity. If special forces can find OBL, surely they can find Assad.
I am glad the decision is not mine.
But I do know, that as someone who believes that genocide and weapons of mass destruction are evil, and not a necessary evil, I must speak up, not stand idly by the blood of my (global) neighbor.
Thanks for expressing the very same things I have been wrestling with these last weeks.
Thanks for expressing the very same things I have been wrestling with these last weeks.
Although I was too young to personally remember, I was deeply scarred by the Holocaust and “remember” only too well the world standing by as Jews died by the thousands. But to wage war is a terrible decision to have to make – easier if you have other countries standing at your side in righteous indignation and willingness to put their money (and sons and daughters) where their mouths are. Hitler was such an easy target – there were no ifs, ands or buts – and yet the USA hesitated forced into war only by direct attack and declaration of war by Hitler.
So again we are at the precipice. I watch fleeing refugees going to camps in intolerable conditions and with little hope of ever leaving them or returning “home”. Can we risk, yet another, war in the Middle East? Can we go it alone without our usual partners? Should we? In my mind I see these fleeing masses as decimated by “collateral damage” as by the chemical warfare. And yet……….we cannot stand by and leave these monsters free to continue this behavior. And others watch – do we mean what we say? Are we really, really willing to put ourselves out there AGAIN. I mean, it wasn’t such a brilliant idea in the first place – Iraq – and we seem not to have made much of a difference in outcomes there. But Iran watches – and North Korea – and who knows how many other regimes willing to kill thousands of their own people in an attempt to achieve – what? If we do nothing do we then become a paper tiger to them? And is that good enough reason to go to war? Because, it is war. Maybe we can actually do it without boots on the ground, but I remember them saying that about Vietnam “advisors only” they said. Boots, I am afraid, would soon hit the ground.
We cannot solve the problems of the world, but we can stand for something – as we have since our inception as a country – home of the brave, land of the free, haven of democracy, rights of man. None of these words are empty phrases and yet…………