Syria Is A Mess, But Airstrikes Will Make It Even Worse

We simply cannot be the world’s policemen.
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Earlier this week, at least 70 people were killed in Syria following the use of chemical weapons. While we do not yet know for sure exactly who was behind this – both ISIS and Al Qaeda reportedly have these capabilities – but because of his reported use of chemical weapons in the past, the blame has fallen on the leader of the Syrian government, Bashar al-Assad.

Many on both sides of the aisle pushed President Trump to intervene and last night he launched a military strike on Syria. We have actually been involved in the Syrian conflict for several years via the use of drone bombs, but some people are talking about a full-throated push to force Assad out of power.

At this moment, I would like to suggest we listen to the words of a very prominent world leader who seems to think this course of action would be foolish.

“We simply cannot be the world’s policemen. We have done it countless times and it always ends in absolute disaster.”

“If the U.S. attacks Syria and hits the wrong targets, killing civilians, there will be worldwide hell to pay. Stay away and fix broken U.S.”

In another statement, this same prominent world leader said, “We should stay the hell out of Syria, the ‘rebels’ are just as bad as the current regime. What will we get for our lives and billions of dollars? Zero.”

Finally, this same world leader wondered aloud, “What will we get for bombing Syria besides more debt and a possible long term conflict?”

If you guessed that the world leader I’m referring to is President Trump, you are correct. Those were tweets he sent out in 2013 when President Obama was pushing involvement in the Syrian conflict. He was beat back at the time, although as I mentioned, he simply began drone bombing them instead.

“Our history shows that an operation to depose Assad would likely cause more problems than it would solve.”

I said this about Vladimir Putin and I will say it about Bashar al-Assad as well: he is a very bad man and I weep for his victims.

But we simply cannot be the world’s policemen.

We have done it countless times and it always ends in absolute disaster. If you don’t believe me, Google what happened when we toppled governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Nicaragua, just to name a few.

Regardless of intentions, the unintended consequences – piles of bodies and a regime that takes over and ends up being even worse than the one it is replacing – are often staggeringly terrible both for the country we are invading and for us.

“Airstrikes and more military intervention are not only going to be ineffective in the long run, they are also going to get a lot more people killed.”

I sympathize with the idea of holding Assad responsible in some way if he is found to be the one behind the chemical attack, but airstrikes and more military intervention are not only going to be ineffective in the long run, they are also going to get a lot more people killed.

So what can we do? Well, it would be nice if other countries in the region like Saudi Arabia would help out, but since that is not going to happen, there needs to be some sort of international cooperation and the International Criminal Court should get involved.

To a great deal of people that will not be considered a strong enough action to take. I’m not 100 percent convinced myself that it would work.

But what I do know is that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and our history shows that an operation to depose Assad would likely cause more problems than it would solve.

I wish President Trump had listened to his own words from 2013, rather than those of the bloodthirsty foreign policy establishment that dragged us into perpetual Middle Eastern war in the first place.

And when it comes to taking further military action in Syria, I have only three words of advice: Don’t do it.

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