War with Syria Imminent ?

by: Onan Coca
Sadly, it seems as though our nation may be headed to “war” yet again.
Secretary of State John Kerry recently announced that the government feels it has conclusive evidence proving the Assad regime in Syria has been using chemical weapons against the Syrian rebels and civilians.
Which means that war with Syria may be imminent.

Several months ago President Obama drew a line in the sand and said that if Syria were to cross his “red line” and use chemical weapons, we would be forced to take action. Interestingly, this is not the first time in the last several months that the Syrians have been accused of using chemical weapons, but it is apparently the first time our government feels it can be sure that they were used.
Syria responded bluntly to Mr. Kerry’s claims, accusing the Obama administration of fabricating the evidence. Basically, the Syrians just called Secretary Kerry and President Obama liars. In making his pronouncement about the definite use of chemical weapons, Kerry bypassed the United Nations who has a team in Syria now investigating the claim.

President Obama is now mulling the options on action, and an assault of some kind is very likely. The main question is whether or not Obama will approach Congress for approval of any military action in Syria before he sends in troops. According to the War Powers Resolution, the President doesn’t need authorization from Congress on any action that lasts 60 days or less… but it would be nice to have Congress get a say in the matter.
Something else the President has to consider when weighing his options is Syria’s connection to Russia and China. Both nations have warned President Obama that we should not be getting involved. Russia’s foreign minister went so far as to say, “Attempts to bypass the Security Council, once again to create artificial groundless excuses for a military intervention in the region are fraught with new suffering in Syria and catastrophic consequences for other countries of the Middle East and North Africa."
I find myself at a bit of a problematic point here – I’m not sure I believe Secretary Kerry, simply because the Obama administration has lied to us so much over the last few years. Why didn’t he wait to make his announcement until after the UN investigative team released their findings? Surely, if we know it happened then there will be evidence and the UN will let us know. The only reason to make the announcement now would be because we are going to attack whether or not there is concrete evidence of chemical weapons used.

I have made it known before that I believe Bashar al-Assad to be a monster of epic proportions. He is a cruel dictator who rules over his people with an iron fist, and this style of government should have no place in our modern world. However, the alternative to Assad may very well be al-Qaeda. If Assad falls, will the allies of al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood be the group with the strongest position in Syria? It seems that if the rebels win, war in Syria may actually escalate as the rebel factions begin battling each other.
In essence, we have a no-win situation in Syria… and while the use of chemical weapons is deplorable, it may be better for everyone if we simply let the situation in Syria play out. The UN may be poised to intervene anyway, which would probably the better option, as it could save us millions of dollars and keep us from risking the lives of our men and women. Our luck in the Islamic world over the last few years has not been good… hopefully whatever happens in Syria works out a bit better for everyone.