On August 21, The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, used chemical weapons on its people to fight rebels. America now stands divided on how to deal with atrocities committed by the Syrian government. The issue of punishing Syria for this violation of not only human ethics but also international law is a tough one. Having been in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for over a decade, the United States and many Americans do not want to get involved in another war. However, the world can not let Assad get away with this blatant abuse of power, and the Unites States must take action against Assad to send a clear message that these actions will not be tolerated .
The United States threatened to strike Assad if he used chemical weapons at all, especially on civilians. Blatantly disregarding such warnings, Assad used chemical weapons on civilians in order to help his regime gain the upper hand in the fight against Syrian rebels working to oust him. This revolt began during Arab Spring, and the fighting has not let up between the rebels and the government since then.
If we, the United States, one of the most powerful countries in the world, merely turn a blind eye towards this blatant violation of human rights, what power do we really have? If we do not act on our threats, our threats will become meaningless, and there will be little hesitation for people to go against the United States.
One of the things protecting our country is fear. While the US does get threatened and attacked, if terrorists and other countries thought they could do whatever they wanted to their own civilians, other countries and America, eventually they would, and there would be nothing to stop people like Assad from murdering civilians with chemical weapons.
Also, this country’s indecision in what to do has forced us to take a backseat to Russia in negotiations with Syria. Do we really want to let Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, who mocks American exceptionalism, not to mention someone who has acted unethically in the past, call the shots in negotiations having to do with world peace? He sees “America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us.” However, what Putin fails to recognize is that America does not just use “brute force” to get its way, often times we intervene in international affairs to protect and aid other innocent people.
Secondly, negotiations are definitely worth a shot, but Assad has already violated a previous agreement not to use chemical weapons, so a possible agreement to cooperate with the U.S., Russia and other countries peacefully is very unlikely. Assad’s credibility as a world leader is compromised, and no country can truly take his word and believe it.
The U.S.’s world prominence aside, a military strike of some kind is undoubtedly necessary to preserve basic human rights. People should not have to live in fear of being gassed to death by their own leaders. If you look at the images or videos of those who were killed by the chemical weapons on August 22nd, you can clearly see the pain and misery the gasses called. How can the world sit back and watch as people endure situations similar to Holocaust concentration camps? The United States has always stood for the spread of democracy in the past, and it has stated they would help people attempting to overthrow an unfair government and trying to spread freedom. We cannot simply go back on these principles and let Assad continue to commit these atrocities.
Congress and the Obama administration cannot let Al-qaeda take over Syria, like it did in Egypt during Arab Spring. Right now, the majority of the Syrian rebels are just people trying to get rid of an awful dictator, but there are some Al-qaeda members fighting alongside the rebels and more are on the way. If Al-qaeda continues to help the rebels, and the rebels succeed in overthrowing Assad, Al-qaeda will have a good shot to gain considerable influence in Syria like they have in Egypt. If the United States can weaken Assad, however, the rebels will need less support from Al-qaeda; and thus, the chances of Al-qaeda taking over Syria are far less likely.
A targeted airstrike of military bases, and places where these chemicals are stored would be an appropriate Syrian response. The United States must intervene in Syria before they commit another atrocity on their own civilians or another country. The military should not go in and oust Assad, but rather go after his chemical weapons before he gains weapons of greater power and destruction.
