To Intervene or Not to Intervene
By Anila Ali
Irvine, CA
To Intervene or Not - that is the question that even the President is struggling with. Whatever action he decides to take has to ensure that Assad’s tyrannical regime is toppled. Only then any US intervention would make sense.
But what guarantee do we have that the rebels in Syria will not take to chemical warfare at some point? What guarantee do we have that if they take over and Assad is toppled, they won’t be sympathetic to Islamists and Al-Qaeda, and worse, Iran? Absolutely none.
Yes, I am a Muslim and it’s heartbreaking to see the pictures of innocent men, women, and children in Syria but I have also seen the same deadly consequences of the US drone attacks in Pakistan which have created orphans and widows who will very likely grow up to hate the US.
It was very wise of the President to get Congressional approval so the onus rests on the people’s representatives. Setting the “red line” on WMD proves to be a bigger responsibility than the President even imagined; most of the fervor around his first election campaign was of people weary of war. It would be in the interest of the United States to work on a ‘narrow’ and ‘focused’ campaign with its allies but it’s crucial to get the Arab players involved along with China and Russia to come up with a political solution. With the new threats from Syria, this may turn into a broader conflict and spill into other countries. That would be more dangerous for US interests in the Middle East.
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