Syria

[HairOfTheDog]

Someone/s have got to do the right thing. Take the fucking initiative and do something. People are being murdered. I wasn't alive when Hitler was committing his atrocities but surely this is comparable, right? Do something! Bomb the fuck out of his planes. I don't like sitting back and doing nothing. I feel like it's not an option.

It's terrible and it's been going on for 8 years. I think virtually every decent person agrees something needs to be done. Exactly what more can/should be done is the problem.

In my opinion, it's more complicated than addressing the atrocities under Hitler. It was clear who was behind the Jewish genocide in Germany back then. When the allied forces acted, they knew the target.

In Syria, on the other hand, the country was swarmed with extremists from other countries infiltrating the Syrian rebellion after Assad unleashed his military on the rebels.

Taking Assad out might have opened the door for the extremists to take over and led to another power vacuum and terrorist breeding ground, like in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Trying to differentiate the true rebels from the terrorist extremists was very difficult, especially since there was little to no western intel inside Syria.

Arming the rebels earlier on might have meant arming the terrorists who were overpowering the rebels. Some believe Assad was actually hiding behind and using the terrorist infiltrators as a figurative shield, allowing him to attack his own people while creating the image that he was fighting ISIS.

Obama tried to legally intervene with Congressional approval and allied backing after the first case of chemical warfare. But, Congress and the UK voted against it. So, the chemical weapons destruction agreement was reached and Putin stepped in promising to verify the agreed-to destruction of those weapons and aligning himself with Assad, as did Iran.

Now, in my opinion, Syria is pretty much a client state. Russia has heavy military presence and control and Iran has boots on the ground aiding the Assad regime.

The U.S. and its Middle Eastern and western allies continue to launch airstrikes which have helped quash ISIS and competing terrorist factions, but the civil war continues. Taking out Assad now would likely mean a multi-national war of great proportions. And, there is still no clear successor in the wings or any agreement as to what a successor government would look like.

No matter what Trump does, he'll be pissing off a whole lotta people. If the U.S. puts heavy boots on the ground, there will be a good deal of the population in the U.S. and western allies who will object to yet another intervention and attempt to force regime change, especially without solid proof that Assad is behind the chemical attacks. No one wants to see another Iraq invasion fiasco and Trump ran on a non-interventionist platform.

And, if Trump doesn't up the U.S. engagement and exert much more force, there will be a great number of people screaming that the (former or current?) leader of the free world is doing nothing in the face of genocide.

That's my view anyway. I don't know what more should be done, but I sure hope the U.S. and allied experts can agree on an effective strategy. It's very complicated and so fucking sad, with half of Syrian citizens displaced inside and outside of Syria and nearly 500,000 casualties.