Can We Stop Pretending About Syria?

Most of the world is upset about Syria’s use of chemical weapons against their own people – and it should be. It was yet another act of evil, and Bashar al-Assad is a monster. The world will be a better place without him.

But let’s not pretend anyone is going to do anything to facilitate that. President Donald Trump’s “targeted” bombing of the airfield from which the latest chemical attack was launched might stop chemical weapons from being used for a while, but it won’t stop the slaughter in Syria. Because, although no one is willing to say it, the world doesn’t care.

That’s not to say people aren’t bothered. Children gasping for air is a visual that moves all but a few. Still, what happens in Syria to Syrians doesn’t affect the rest of the world in any tangible way. Therefore people are not moved to act. If they were, there would be a flood into Syria to join the rebels fighting both Assad and ISIS. As it is, millions of Syrians aren’t even willing to stand up for their fellow countrymen, as able-bodied men flee the country rather than fight for themselves.

Since those in the firing line don’t seem to care, the rest of the world isn’t willing to do what is necessary to prevent what happened this week from happening again. If it were, one of the roughly dozen previous chemical attacks would’ve caused action beyond bombing an airstrip. It didn’t.

The world likes to be seen denouncing monsters and their inhuman actions, but it doesn’t like actually doing anything about it unless forced. And the world is rarely forced to act in a meaningful way on matters of the actions of monsters.

The disaster in Syria is not the fault of the Trump administration. The Obama administration ignored multiple chemical weapons attacks by Assad because it was politically advantageous to do nothing. The media played along, casually mentioning the attacks happened – sometimes – and quickly moving on to the latest update on a Kardashian or some such distraction.

After his red line was obliterated by Assad, President Obama balked. He wasn’t necessarily wrong to do nothing; he was wrong to draw the line if he wasn’t willing to back it up. And he wasn’t willing.

Eventually he cut a deal for Syria to give up its “declared” chemical weapons, congratulated himself and went golfing.

They never cared about Syria, but they had to be seen as caring about Syria. The deal gave them exactly that. From a policy standpoint, I’m not sure that was wrong. Horrible things happen all the time. The civilized world can’t act simply because something horrific happened. But we should probably stop pretending to be surprised when they do.

When it comes to humanitarian crises that require more than money to address, we aren’t interested. People would rather text some number to donate a couple of bucks to a cause so they can feel good about themselves than do anything tangible. It’s a normal human reaction – if it doesn’t affect them directly, they’re not really wrong to.

By next week the world will have moved on to something else. But it’s not next week yet. The bombs just flew, so we have politicians and journalists mounting their high horses and patting themselves on their backs for caring and others condemning the action as unlawful. Everyone falls in line behind whatever suits their political needs, and nothing changes.

We – every one of us – have to pretend to be outraged by awfulness. We have to pretend to be angry over action or inaction. We have to pretend to be saddened by unspeakable acts. But the truth, deep down, is something different.

What happened in Syria is horrible, but it’s not unique. The world sat idly by when it happened in Syria before – as the bodies piled up in Darfur, as untold numbers were slaughtered in Rwanda and countless other places. Why should this time be any different?

When nearly 300 girls were kidnapped and forced into sex slavery by Boko Haram, the civilized world uniformly expressed outrage. To combat this evil act…a hashtag was launched: #BringBackOurGirls. Social media was flooded by people wanting to be seen caring. Soon after, people moved on. Most of the girls are still missing, and the world didn’t do a damn thing that mattered.

The world only cares to be seen caring; acting is of no interest. Do you think the Russian government gives a damn about a chemical weapons attack? That China lost sleep over genocide anywhere? It may be immoral for the world to watch genocide and not act, but it is the world’s default position.

If the great powers of the world really wanted to, they could wipe out ISIS and Assad and stop almost every atrocity. It would require a resolve it hasn’t shown and serious, unfettered military action. The current political climate of the West won’t allow it. Civilian casualties would be high and domestic support would collapse. We want to be heroes, but we want it to be neat. Like in the movies. But war isn’t neat.

If World War II happened today, the West would be passing resolutions condemning Germany and Japan, the Jews would be eliminated and nation after nation would fall to tyranny.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I know it’s not bombing an airfield or pretending a problem doesn’t exist. It lies somewhere in between and not with those who feel good about themselves for feeling bad for others. Maybe the first step is admitting that.

Re: “...one of the roughly dozen previous chemical attacks...”

Where does that claim come from?

The UN has investigated 16 alleged chemical attacks.

12 sites had no evidence of chemical weapons use.

4 sites had evidence of sarin, but the UN could not determine which group had used sarin.

Now, I agree that very often the UN is not a reliable source.

But not one USA political leader or military leader or intelligence leader publicly challenged the UN conclusions before Trump attacked Syria.

Even the politicized UN which did investigations couldn’t blame Syrian government for those alleged attacks

But hey the narrative is out there, every lazy media writer and “ intelligence analyst” in the world just keeps parroting the same claims, and after all.... it really is about the seriousness of the charges...

I wonder if honest analysts who challenge what is being fed to Trump are being censored , demoted or reassigned ?

It will keep happening because it is a 1000 year old ISLAMIC religious civil war.

This is not difficult to understand and there is NOTHING we can do to stop it.

Please read history. ISIS is not a new thing. This carnage is not a new thing. It’s extremely old and it is all there in the history.

Exactly.
ISIS is not just in Syria, they are spread over a vast area.
The ISIS ideology is spread over an even vaster area and can crop up as ‘conflict’ at any moment.

There is no way ‘wipe out ISIS’

It can, however, be contained and kept away from the USA for the most part. ISIS is busy ‘wiping out’ apostates among Muslims. That is their primary goal.

Europe let in too many people carrying the ISIS ideology with them so we need to be wary of people from Europe now.

We have the chance that Europe threw away. We should take it.

This doesn’t mean there won’t be homeland terrorist attacks in future, we have let in some of that ideology as well. But we have the best chance of keeping it at bay ... if we will do it.

For anyone that still thinks our sudden shift to Lindsey Graham foreign policy is a good idea, please watch this below.

I know you can’t learn everything from one documentary, but you can see a certain reality that is not in the press.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/inside-assads-syria/

That is the stance the US took about Jews during WWII and we saw how that worked out for the world

US military policy during WW II had nothing to do with Jews, a subject in which both the government and the people had little interest.

US war aims in Europe were achieved fully, and the benefits of our victory lasted for about 70 years, quite remarkable in the history of wars.

Well professor, presuming victims were contaminated with sarin while clothed, how long would you wait before touching and removing their contaminated clothing?

PS: It wasn’t sarin or a whole bunch of first responders and doctors would be dead, based on those pictures of them walking around the scene barefoot or in sandals, handling and touching clothed victims

Has the world yet lost a White Helmet responding heroically to recover someone elses children (where were the mothers anyway?) from a CW attack with no protective gear except a bandanna?

The crisis actors should at least have been issued gloves to make it look a little bit realistic

That is the stance the US took about Jews during WWII and we saw how that worked out for the world.

In WWII, the problems in Germany were metastasizing to the rest of the world. In Syria, the problems would mainly stay there. I do not think that there is a danger that Syria would start invading other countries.

There are plenty of examples of genocidal situations where we did nothing. The policies have always seemed to be that as long as a dictator remains confined in his country's borders, he can do what he wants. Or as long as bloodshed remains confined within borders, we don't really care.

Not many people got worked up over or even knew of the atrocities of Ruanda and Sierra Leone. Or Uganda. Or China's treatment of Tibet. Etc.

There is no time context, it is hot in Syria. windy etc. All or any of these mitigate. The casualties aren't 'soaked' with Sarin, if the mixing process is correct the objective is an aerosol, death by respiration. A drop on the skin can be fatal but it isn't as if victims need being wet to die.

Some other agents, blister for e.g. are used to where areas are soaked. In France during WWI blister agents occasionally ran like thickened water in the gutters.

I share your skepticism but the current die has been cast.

The scenario was based on dropped bombs
Not aerosol spraying ( which Saddam did for many years )
So we see victims who were exposed to “ sarin”’ via air dropped bomb blast
In nice neat intact clothing ( women in correct hijab) being treated by bare handed “ doctors “ who are tweeting

Children have no shrapnel and no parents to be seen with them
( in the 2013 attack it was reported that the victims were Christians and other Assad loyalist family members kidnapped from a pro assad village several days before their bodies showed up as “ Assad” CW victims. As one Syrian nun who was there told the UN investigators “ these people did not live in this neighborhood... And where are the children’s parents?”’

Look the whole staged CW scene stinks ( literally) but everything went like clockwork including the U.S. decision to attack immediately with assets waiting on station

Trump must be a maroon about CW to not even recognize he was being played

Or he was part of it and needed an excuse to “ show resolve”

Chem bombs mix, have a burster charge to aerosolize the agent. The charge isn't the same as a regular bomb since heat is the enemy of nerve agents. Very little 'blast' unless it lands on you. No frags, (shrapnel is a specific item).

including the U.S. decision to attack immediately with assets waiting on station

Always have surface ships in the Med that load out Tomahawk. Since the President had ordered the military to come up with a method of getting ISIS, no real surprise there were AB destroyers. Trump hasn't been silent on the CF in Syria, so a quick reaction (a couple of days) isn't a surprise either.

Chem warfare practiced on an ad hoc basis (no mass attack) has as its primary focus to instill terror/confusion on the target. From a practical standpoint killing is easier and more efficient with HE.

The ME is a good place to use non-persistent CW because of the climate. He bombed east of the controlled areas so wind works for the Syrians.

From the photos I've seen there were containers consistent with CW at the airfield. The aircraft track was consistent with the area attacked. Assad has used CW before like his party-mate Saddam.

Or he was part of it and needed an excuse to “ show resolve”

If so, then what it doesn't really matter. Sounds like a truther position.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.