Unraveling: A Tutorial on the Syrian Civil War
Have you ever noticed a small piece of thread and given it a little tug only to find out it kept coming? Your entire garment could become unraveled if you continued.
That is what is happening in the Middle East. Long a hot bed of conflicting religion and government, don't think that the Syria "threads" aren't reaching far and wide. While this 67-year old country has never enjoyed a serene existence, the 2011 Arab Spring opened the door to a civil war where anything goes.
Protestors were tired of the Ba'ath Party, a socialist movement led by Bashar al-Assad. The government responded to the protestors with kidnapping, torture and murder. The civilians organized and continued. In return, the government escalated their responses by destroying whole neighborhoods and towns. Other entities have joined in. Of the more than 110,000 people killed in this short period of time, when WMDs recently killed 400 children a few weeks ago, a thin red line was finally crossed for the United States. The sleeping giant - our government - finally stretched and said that was it. Now Syria has to be shown that in no way are WMDs ever to be tolerated according to the world's manual of warfare. (Torture and murder are ok?)
Ever since the horrific photos of the 400 bodies of children draped in white sheets went viral, the politicians and the pundits have been given plenty of press. No one can agree on what to do. If we do nothing, we aren't tough and we send a message to North Korea and Iran. We become weak and lose our rep as a strong force in the world. (IMHO I think we have long lost that standing). If we do something - what should that look like? It was reported today that the Pentagon has changed its potential military action plans 50 times. Fifty. We could bomb strategic sites and reduce their communications, making it more difficult to continue. But, we are assured that there will be no "boots on the ground" and that this will not be ongoing. It's only to show the Syrians - and the world - that no means no.
Right now, most of the world including American citizens are telling our president "no". The Pope says no. Russia's President Putin says no. He cautions that we don't really know who used the WMDs and that we need to find who is responsible first. Democrats and Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives and Independents are saying no, too. At this point, there is no plan and the proposed military action has yet to be summarized in one sentence. I want to see that sentence before I cast my vote.
Do we have enough information yet? China and Russia align themselves with Syria. What will they do if the US attacks? Iran and Russia are already providing arms to Syria. What will they do in response if the US jumps in? How safe is anyone living abroad right now? Hezbollah and other extremist groups are involved...what will their reactions be?
I have not heard any talking head bring up this information. Our country does not have anyone willing to stand with us, but there are plenty of countries and organizations who are already against us. The US could find itself in the middle of the worst world war ever. Ever since the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, battle tactics have changed. Just as defining the enemy has changed. It has just taken our government longer to react to the terrorist tactics. Those wars are never over, and they are never won. And it is indeed a War on Terror whether you use the term or not.
I almost think that the the US is being goaded by enemies into taking some action so that unimaginable dominos can begin to fall. Don't forget that Syria is no friend to Israel ever since 1967. What will happen if Iran fires on Israel in response to the US doing a quick drop in Syria? Israel has a backbone and will likely not sit nice wanting to think things through the way we have.
Yes, it is all unraveling. And these are just some of the players. Think about those splinter groups out there honing their skills and biding their time that aren't publically known. I shudder. The US has walked right into a trap by not standing for anything anymore and trying to be everyone's friend. We have a president who won a Nobel Peace Prize without anything tangible to show first. Now he is in arguably the most challenging situation of his presidency. Forget his rap artist friends and golf games. He's got to dust off that Nobel Prize and read the definition again. He's got to hit his knees and forget any of the cool speeches. This is the realest deal since 9/11 and it hasn't unfolded yet.
Forgotten in all of this is that we are using our western mindset view-finder. We don't even know how to flip on the right filter because we lack that cultural experience. We aren't listening to all the necessary resources to make our leadership decisions.
We are well past talking about what should have been done. We have waited until far too many people were killed and already look weak. Now every one in the world must pray their hardest and forget positioning themselves. Time to agree on the real enemy and stand strong. May God give tremendous wisdom to those in the decision-making seats. May the words spoken on Tuesday be the most thought-out and strongest President Obama has ever uttered.
That is what is happening in the Middle East. Long a hot bed of conflicting religion and government, don't think that the Syria "threads" aren't reaching far and wide. While this 67-year old country has never enjoyed a serene existence, the 2011 Arab Spring opened the door to a civil war where anything goes.
Protestors were tired of the Ba'ath Party, a socialist movement led by Bashar al-Assad. The government responded to the protestors with kidnapping, torture and murder. The civilians organized and continued. In return, the government escalated their responses by destroying whole neighborhoods and towns. Other entities have joined in. Of the more than 110,000 people killed in this short period of time, when WMDs recently killed 400 children a few weeks ago, a thin red line was finally crossed for the United States. The sleeping giant - our government - finally stretched and said that was it. Now Syria has to be shown that in no way are WMDs ever to be tolerated according to the world's manual of warfare. (Torture and murder are ok?)
Ever since the horrific photos of the 400 bodies of children draped in white sheets went viral, the politicians and the pundits have been given plenty of press. No one can agree on what to do. If we do nothing, we aren't tough and we send a message to North Korea and Iran. We become weak and lose our rep as a strong force in the world. (IMHO I think we have long lost that standing). If we do something - what should that look like? It was reported today that the Pentagon has changed its potential military action plans 50 times. Fifty. We could bomb strategic sites and reduce their communications, making it more difficult to continue. But, we are assured that there will be no "boots on the ground" and that this will not be ongoing. It's only to show the Syrians - and the world - that no means no.
Right now, most of the world including American citizens are telling our president "no". The Pope says no. Russia's President Putin says no. He cautions that we don't really know who used the WMDs and that we need to find who is responsible first. Democrats and Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives and Independents are saying no, too. At this point, there is no plan and the proposed military action has yet to be summarized in one sentence. I want to see that sentence before I cast my vote.
Do we have enough information yet? China and Russia align themselves with Syria. What will they do if the US attacks? Iran and Russia are already providing arms to Syria. What will they do in response if the US jumps in? How safe is anyone living abroad right now? Hezbollah and other extremist groups are involved...what will their reactions be?
I have not heard any talking head bring up this information. Our country does not have anyone willing to stand with us, but there are plenty of countries and organizations who are already against us. The US could find itself in the middle of the worst world war ever. Ever since the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, battle tactics have changed. Just as defining the enemy has changed. It has just taken our government longer to react to the terrorist tactics. Those wars are never over, and they are never won. And it is indeed a War on Terror whether you use the term or not.
I almost think that the the US is being goaded by enemies into taking some action so that unimaginable dominos can begin to fall. Don't forget that Syria is no friend to Israel ever since 1967. What will happen if Iran fires on Israel in response to the US doing a quick drop in Syria? Israel has a backbone and will likely not sit nice wanting to think things through the way we have.
Yes, it is all unraveling. And these are just some of the players. Think about those splinter groups out there honing their skills and biding their time that aren't publically known. I shudder. The US has walked right into a trap by not standing for anything anymore and trying to be everyone's friend. We have a president who won a Nobel Peace Prize without anything tangible to show first. Now he is in arguably the most challenging situation of his presidency. Forget his rap artist friends and golf games. He's got to dust off that Nobel Prize and read the definition again. He's got to hit his knees and forget any of the cool speeches. This is the realest deal since 9/11 and it hasn't unfolded yet.
Forgotten in all of this is that we are using our western mindset view-finder. We don't even know how to flip on the right filter because we lack that cultural experience. We aren't listening to all the necessary resources to make our leadership decisions.
We are well past talking about what should have been done. We have waited until far too many people were killed and already look weak. Now every one in the world must pray their hardest and forget positioning themselves. Time to agree on the real enemy and stand strong. May God give tremendous wisdom to those in the decision-making seats. May the words spoken on Tuesday be the most thought-out and strongest President Obama has ever uttered.
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