The civil war in Syria is hard to watch. The Syrian conflict is not just about power. It is a clash of irreconcilable visions. The winners will wield the life or death power of the current dictator, possibly coupled with the zeal and fervor of islamist puritanical ideology. Those who win are unlikely to have much mercy on the losers, or their supporters. Desperate people do not hold back. By most estimates, over a hundred thousand people have been killed, and more are killed each day.
There are many in the US, and elsewhere in the world clamoring for someone to stop the slaughter. Most of those people are exercising that option that is so easy for the armchair quarterback. They want something done, and they want someone else to do it.
The USA has the raw power to stop the slaughter. If we were to apply our full military might, we could certainly take control of Syria, and transform the conflict. Unfortunately, that will not bring peace. The most likely outcome of such forceful intervention would be to transform a domestic Syrian conflict into an international conflict where all factions in Syria would become united in the desire to eject the US, and when we left, they would resume fighting each other.
The world is full of thugs, and it is thugs who are fighting in Syria. There are no “good guys”. As in Libya, there is no doubt that the outcome, no matter who prevails, will not be a stable, constitutional republic. Those of us in the more genteel, wealthy parts of the world forget that in most of the world it is the thugs who rule. A peaceful, law abiding, civil society is a great achievement, and can only be accomplished by the people themselves, and never imposed. People can be loyal to a government, but not to a conqueror.
Nevertheless, the war drums are beating, and hubris is everywhere. John McCain, who should know better, calls for yet more killing by the US, to preserve our “credibility”. Our president has decided that a military strike is necessary to “send a message”. We should learn from history.
The idea of a Just War goes back to Roman times. The essence of a Just War is that it is in some sense self defense. Afghanistan harbored a terrorist who had killed thousands of Americans. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq at least threatened the US with constant bluster. Both of those conflicts have dragged on for years, and have been at best inconclusive. Yet, these cautionary tales seem to hold no sway over a president who made his name on his opposition to war.
The conflict in Syria is many things, but it does not threaten the US. It is not our war. We have no right to impose solutions on other nations, kill their people, or choose which thugs will rule them. We should not intervene simply because we can.
