Intervention or.... Not.

   Regular readers of this blog know that I rarely post about political topics.  I try to avoid politics, as I know that people have varied and strongly held beliefs on the subject.  There is one subject however that I will not stay silent on.  That subject is the potential for missile strikes in Syria.

Let me first state that as a Christian, I am appalled and horrified by what the Asad regime is doing to its civilian population.  He is a butcher and murder plain and simple.  The so-called “rebels” are no better.  They have ties to Al Qaeda the organization responsible for the September 11th attacks in 2001.  Therefore, we are in a Prisoner’s Dilemma of sorts.  Do we assist the Al Qaeda backed rebels, or the murderous regime of Bashir Asad?

My answer is that we give military help to neither side.  We provide humanitarian assistance through charities and the UN to assist the brutalized population of Syria.  I have a high standard by which I evaluate a support of US military intervention overseas.  That standard is: do I believe that the nation or group in question directly threatens the security of the United States?  The Syrian government is certainly a threat to its own population and the Middle East as a larger whole. 

Is Syria looking to invade or commit acts of terror on American soil?  I have not seen or heard any evidence to the contrary.  Using this standard I opposed the Iraq war of 2002, and the Bosnian war of the 1990’s.  I initially supported the Afghanistan war in 2001 because the terrorists who committed the acts of terror on 9/11 were directly supported by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.  Hence a direct link to a threat to the national security of the US.  In my mind, military intervention was justified for Afghanistan in 2001. At the current moment, I support the immediate withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan.

Syria is a problem no question.  However, if you look at recent history.  When the US becomes militarily involved in the Middle East, things do not go well.  It is for that reason as well as not seeing a direct link between the Syrian government’s actions and a direct threat to the security and safety of the United States that I oppose a military intervention in Syria of any kind. (Including airstrikes.)  I call on Congress to vote “no” on President Obama’s use of force authorization now making its way through Congress.