What are we trying to accomplish in Syria, again?
by David Atkins
An al Qaeda-linked rebel group has wrested control of the historic Christian town of Maaloula from regime forces, opposition groups said Sunday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the hardline Islamist rebels of the al-Nusra Front seized control Saturday night.
Videos posted on YouTube in recent days showed fighting between rebels and government forces in the tiny sleepy town, an hour’s drive from the capital Damascus.
“We cleansed Maaloula from all the Assad dogs and all his thugs,” a rebel commander shouts at the camera in a video posted online over the weekend.
What the capture will mean for the Christian residents waits to be seen.
As the 18-month-long Syrian conflict festers, the government and the opposition welcome and need Christian support.
But some Christians fear radical Islamists have been swelling rebel ranks.
They also fear the same fate as a number of Christians during the war in Iraq, where militants targeted them and spurred many to leave the country.
I personally don’t care what religion any of them belong to. The enemy is fundamentalism of any kind, not one religion or another.
But it brings to light again the question of what goal would be desired from bombing Syria? Is it just to enforce a norm against chemical weapons? Or is it to turn the tide of the civil war? If the latter, are the rebels truly better than the Assad regime? What happens if and when Assad falls?
I haven’t heard anyone make a solid case for what exactly would be accomplished by bombing. I haven’t heard anyone make a solid case for what exactly would be accomplished by turning the tide of war to the rebels. A ceasefire and justice for war criminals would be optimal, but it won’t work unless the whole world is behind it and ready to make it happen. Saudi Arabia would rather try to get the U.S. to do its dirty work, most of Europe would prefer to tut tut and avert their eyes, Russia would prefer to keep their client state, China would prefer to see the United States stymied, and far too many U.S. politicians would like to drop bombs for the sake of, well, dropping bombs, even as most war-weary voting Americans are taking a “not our problem” approach.
OK, fine. But let’s stop pretending that anyone actually cares about the plight of the Syrian people, or that any of the proposed “solutions” solve anything at all. They don’t. Least of all a series of bombings that will either be ineffectual or open a Pandora’s Box of consequences.
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