International affairs · Security

What, if anything, should the United States do to help ease the crisis in Syria?

Eric Ringham Jun 15, 2012
21

The situation in Syria continues to worsen as other countries, reportedly including Turkey and Russia, send weapons into the conflict. Today’s Question: What, if anything, should the United States do to help ease the crisis in Syria?

  • Rex Hamann

    The US needs to step up. But we’re afraid of the reaction from the Zionists. So we allow the slaughter of Syrian innocents just like people stood around and watched the Jews being hauled away during the holocaust. Good ol’ USA. They should keep selling arms to rebel groups (and step that up too) and start providing pathways for the people of Syria to leave the country in whatever way they can. The latter would be the best possible thing to do, because Putin and Company are obviously hellbent on turning Syria into a Russian state. This could get very ugly.

  • Gary F

    Right now, we sit and watch, as painful as it may be.

    We should have had more intelligence on the ground and made it more of a national and world public issue years before it got this bad. Then, we might have had a better idea who the players are and which side we should be on.

    As we are seeing in north Africa, sure, we got some knuckleheads out, but I’m not sure if we improved the situation.

  • matt

    The best way to promote peace is to not join in the war, also maybe lead by example and not kill other people. Bring the troops home and keep out of Syria!

    As a former marine I listen to my favorite general Smedley D Butler “War is a Racket” $.99 for your kindle or nook. Increase the peace and stop funding the war corps.

  • John

    I believe the good ol’ USA and Israel are destabilizing Syria to create leadership change for Israel. So that Israel will eventually control the Middle East.

    As an American we should STOP aid to Israel and STOP supporting this terrorist regime. Israel can kill thousands of Palestinians and get away with it. We should have a NO FLY ZONE over Israel.

  • matt

    Stay out of it. Stop war by not participating. Bring our boys home from Afghanistan. Bring them home from Germany and Japan. From all the corners of the earth. Let the world know that the global war machine is over. Let the other nations sort their problems out themselves!

    How brilliant of the Syrians to pit the US against Russia and Iran to keep their hold on power or to gain what they want! A fools game that costs us blood and treasure.

    “War is a Racket” Smedley Butler practically free on kindle or nook. The former Marine General exposes the war machine. Create artificial fear and then funnel money to the war corps. Any Devil Dogs out there should download a copy.

  • Jim G

    The US needs to show strong leadership at the UN Security Council. Yes, there will be plenty of heavy lifting, horse trading, and maybe a little social arm twisting to get Russia, China, Turkey, and other’s with interests in the area to vote for a coherent plan. Perhaps a further tightening of the screws on the Assad regime combined with actions similar to what NATO did in Libya.

    Syria is definitely a more difficult nut to crack, and then it would be left in pieces. What do we do then? We’ve been at war for more than ten years. Since 911, we’ve had our men and women at arms working overtime to manage the consequences of seriously under-thought decisions made by the Republican Administration of George W. Bush. Now, we need to avoid unilateral military action. It is not a choice most Americans would support. Our country and military can’t afford another opened-ended death and debt producing war.

  • matt

    …did not mean to double post…thought the first one got sucked in to the great internet toilet. But like all interweb commenters I believe my position is superior and should be read twice. If the great moderator is watching he can zap this and my 8:13 post.

  • Ann

    Wasn’t Syria the country that wouldn’t let us use their land during the war in Iraq? Isn’t it time for their allies to step up and help them/?

  • david

    STAY OUT OF IT! Nation building is bad for business unless you work for the military industrial complex, or the oil jndustry. Otherwise perpetual war is making life to difficult for the rest of us.

  • Evelyn

    End the War on Drugs.

    Legalize and grow hemp everywhere.

    Remove the ignorant, greedy and power hungry from all positions of political/governmental influence.

    Share the wealth on all levels.

  • inuit

    “Remove the ignorant, greedy and power hungry from all positions of political/governmental influence.”

    If we did that, alot of potheads would be out of a job. Where would they get the money to buy weed then? Steal it?

  • Paul

    There’s not just one thing to do, we must advance on all fronts. If we fight Syrian corruption; poverty crime, and paucity can increase. It is the butterfly effect. In our globe, lack of resources in China lead to murder in Syria.

  • reggie

    We Americans like to see ourselves as agents of good in the world… and we often are. But at some point we need to step back and shore up the economics and the moral integrity of our own culture before we go adventuring around the world fixing others’. Two good steps would be 1) to commit to working with the UN (not only NATO, not nearly-unilateral military action as we’ve pursued in Iraq, Afghanistan, and through our drone incursions into Pakistan and Yemen) to solve multilateral problems and 2) to stop arming the world’s despots.

    Objectively, if we got our economic house in order, neither Russia or China would be capable of mounting a credible threat for many, many years to come, and the need to worry about either of them creating proxy states would be next to nil. But when we are as economically overextended as we are, everything we do to shore up the middle east makes us weaker and more vulnerable.

  • kim

    After reading the posts so far, I’m pretty well convinced that “Today’s Question” has outlived it’s usefulness. It was a nice idea, but the level of discourse has dropped to the point that it’s probably not worth the time it takes to read it anymore. I wonder why that is? .

  • Wally

    First, send NO troops.

    The feds gave guns to Mexican drug thugs, why not just give some heavier weaponry to the people being slaughtered in Syria? Level the killing fields. Bullies never like a fair fight.

    Oh, and wasn’t that effective to expel Syrian diplomats, and give them THREE DAYS to pack? Deport the criminals IMMEDIATELY. That was like giving a murder suspect three days to turn himself in.

    And the U.N.?!

    Diplocrats all sit around

    Debating with each other

    While tyrants do their tyrant thing

    And escalate the slaughter

    And when the diplocrats decide

    That they’ll do something real

    The tyrants will agree to that

    And sign a ceasefire deal

    For peace is easy to achieve

    When refugees have fled

    And villagers will have their peace

    When every one is dead.

  • Regnar James

    Last time I checked C-R-E-ah is not part of the United States of America.

    Keep our noses out of it and protect our boarders. Anything comes in or out of USA without approval gets dead —- period.

    That is why people outside the USA hate us so much… we think they should think and act like us.

    If someone outside the USA wants to enslave, torture and brutalize others… have at it…. Just don’t cross our boarder or see above note… written in ENGLISH I would like to add.

    ∑

    DTOM

  • Steve the Cynic

    If foreign policy were as easy to understand as some of the glib answers being posted here seem to suggest, the world wouldn’t be in nearly the mess it is. All the problems would have been figured out long ago.

  • jockamo

    If foreign policy was as easy as all the countries of the world building and maintaining embassies, complete with ambassadors and diplomatic corps, in all the other countries of the world, the world would not be in the mess it is presently in.

    All the problems would have been solved long ago.

  • Ann

    Saddam was killing his people in Iraq. So that is why I supported the US involvement. Would we really be able to help the Syrians?

    As others have written here, sometimes our involvement just causes other countries to hate and resent us. Let’s just tell the world that we will stay out of this for a change.This solution is probably too simplistic, but we need to learn something from the past involvements in Vietnam, Iraq , Somalia, etc.

  • Michelle

    @Inuit, pot is free, it’s the greatest growing gift nature has for humanity.

    End the Prohibition, we can all be wise, just find your heart, open your eyes.

  • inuit

    Pot is free? Who’d a thunk it.

    Have you informed your dealer of this anti-capitalism fact?

    I am sure he would be thankful for the information, and would open his heart in the spirit of global…you know, ummm…togetherness, and lay a bag or two on you every week.