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2/4/2014 6:40:58 AM
3
Should we do something about the Syrian crisis? Yes.
Will we? After 12 years of fighting in the Middle East, I doubt we will see anything close to a majority approval of doing so.
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Here is a good article you should ponder. Garnering Congressional support now that there is a clear threat to national security (al-Qaeda in Syria (Jabhat al-Nusra)) would be easier than saying that the Assad regime is a threat to our national security. They are, but indirectly rather than direct like al-Qaeda.
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Edited by Icy Wind: 2/4/2014 3:57:39 PM[quote] Garnering Congressional support now that there is a clear threat to national security (al-Qaeda in Syria (Jabhat al-Nusra)) would be easier than saying that the Assad regime is a threat to our national security. They are, but indirectly rather than direct like al-Qaeda.[/quote] See, problem is that plenty of people have started to realize that you aren't going to defeat terrorism by simply bombing countries where they show up. We spent 12 years doing it in Afghanistan and I fail to see a significant difference in their power there. Hell, at this point, Karzai is making peace talks with the Taliban himself. Although it's not al-Qaeda, it still falls in the same area.
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Intervention doesn't mean purely militarily. Humanitarian assistance to those affected by both the regime and AQ would also be in the wider strategy. I needn't explain how this is good for those affected by either party, but let me explain how this is good to undermine AQ without exclusively bombing them. Al-Qaeda elements inside Syria, namely Jabhat al-Nusra, are really keen to improving AQ's image. In the villages, towns and cities they control, they are providing all sorts of assistance to those who desperately need it. For example, if a community desperately needs better sanitation assistance, al-Nusra has been doing their damnedest to get those people what they need. With financial assistance coming to al-Nusra from both the senior leadership of AQ and from wealthy donors in the Gulf, they can afford to provide such services. Other groups cannot, as they do not have the military or economical clout. This is where we step in. We can provide note moderate groups with the assistance they need in order to provide the same services as AQ. We can provide these groups with money, weapons and training (on a much larger scale than what's happening now, of course), so that they can beat back AQ's influence. Beating back their influence will severely undermine their clout with the general populace. We are already doing this with the groups who fight ISIS. We should be doing this on a much wider-scale. People seem to think that an intervention is purely militarily, but in fact, it can be quite broad.
