The Demonization of the Iraq War Ensures No Syria Intervention. By Jim Geraghty. National Review Online, February 7, 2013.
Intervene in Syria. By Roger Cohen. New York Times, February 4, 2013.
Syria Is Not Iraq. By Shadi Hamid. The Atlantic, February 4, 2013.
Hamid:
Lastly,
it is worth thinking about what this means for future instances of mass
slaughter. With the Libya intervention, there was hope that a post-Arab Spring
precedent would be set – that whenever pro-democracy protesters were threatened
with massacre, the U.S. and its allies would take the “responsibility to
protect” seriously and consider intervention as a legitimate option. But,
nearly two years later, what we didn’t do in Syria is more relevant than what
we did do in Libya.
If I
sound defeatist, then it is likely because I am. It is worth speaking frankly,
and, unfortunately, this probably requires speaking in the past tense. For
Syria, it is likely too late. Notwithstanding something sudden and entirely
unexpected, the international community will not intervene. That does not mean
that the Syrian people are doomed. They will likely “win” in the end, but their
victory, if we can even call it that, will have come at a much greater cost – in
the sheer number killed – than was necessary. It will have come at the cost of
a country destroyed, of sects polarized beyond any hope of reconciliation, of
Salafis and Jihadists ascendant, of a state too torn and divided for real
governance. As has been reported elsewhere, the Syrian opposition feels that it
has been not just forgotten, but, worse, betrayed. They are unlikely to forget
this anytime soon. Anti-Americanism, a given among regime supporters, has
slowly taken root among the opposition as well. The Syrian protest movement’s
Friday theme for October 19, 2012 was “America, has your spite not been sated
by our blood?” In due time, the Obama administration's inability or
unwillingness to act may be remembered as one of the great strategic and moral
blunders of recent decades. Hoping to atone for our sins in Iraq, we have
overlearned the lessons of the last war. I only wish it wasn’t too late.
