A Four Part Harmony
I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. I suffer no illusions about Bashar Al-Assad. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has thwarted U.N. inspection teams, developed chemical weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. But I also know that Assad poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States or to his neighbors. I know that a bombing of Syria without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al Qaeda.
Let's fight to make sure that the U.N. inspectors can do their work.
Let's fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells... Let's fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil.
Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair. The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. (1)
From the LA Times:
The Pentagon is preparing for a longer bombardment of Syria than it originally had planned, with a heavy barrage of missile strikes followed soon after by more attacks on targets that the opening salvos missed or failed to destroy, officials said...
Pentagon planners are weighing whether to use Air Force bombers, in addition to five warships now on patrol in the eastern Mediterranean Sea...
... some military officers are doubtful that even a longer air campaign, using cruise missiles fired from offshore, will hurt Assad enough to degrade his forces and to deter future use of chemical weapons... The planned U.S. attack "will not strategically impact the current situation in the war, which the Syrians have well in hand, though fighting could go on for another two years," said another U.S. officer familiar with the latest intelligence estimates...
"It's got to lead to something or we're going to be back in the same situation a year from now," said Mark Kimmitt, a retired Army brigadier general... "So we've got to have a larger target set." ...
Pentagon planners also are offering options to hit Assad again if he or his regional proxies retaliate against the United States or its allies, the two officers said.
Administration officials have signaled that they intend to move ahead with their plans to provide arms to some Syrian rebel factions, a demand by Sen. John McCain of Arizona and other Republicans...
Barbara Lee speaks for me:
(An excerpt from a letter from Barbara Lee to a constituent, via an email forward I received)
On August 29, 2013 I lead a letter with over 60 of my colleagues calling for a congressional debate and vote on Syria, and I am pleased that President Obama responded to our call. It was the right thing to do and I’m glad we will have a debate.
In Syria, I believe the evidence is compelling that the Assad regime did use chemical weapons against civilians. We must respond to this heinous act. However, I reject the idea that a military response is the only action we can take. The dangers of a military strike and its unintended consequences, including the possibility of further loss of life, demand that we work with the international community and consider all of the alternatives. There is no military solution to this complex civil war. And while we all agree that a negotiated settlement is necessary, I do not believe military action will further that goal.
That is why I oppose any authorization of the use of military force in Syria and will be working to advance non-military alternatives.
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(1) Adapted from a speech given eleven years ago by an obscure politician.