Thinking Out Loud On Syria

Since the administration’s announcement of President Obama’s call to reexamine his country’s policies regarding the Syrian crisis after the failure of the Geneva talks, there has been an open discussion on all levels in America about how to deal with Syria, especially in the news media.

The arguments circulating now are basically being thought out loud. They do not differ from the arguments made since the beginning of the Syrian Revolution, such as the necessity of America’s not being militarily involved in Syria, caution about arming the opposition, the importance of restructuring the Free Army, etc. As long as we are witnessing this thinking out loud, it would be good for our reasoning to partake in that “thinking” now in order to explain points about which Americans are ignorant, especially since the Iranians are doing the same in an effort to mislead and disrupt the involvement of Russia, the al-Assad regime, and various others.

The problem with current American thinking in regard to the Syrian crisis is that it focuses mostly on the elements of the solution that it assumes will work with the crisis. It demands steps based on good intentions and the seriousness of the other party. The problem, however, lies in the other party, i.e. Iran and al-Assad, who will not hesitate to use even the devil in order to win the battle in Syria. That includes everything from the use of Iran’s al-Quds Force to the Hezbollah militias, and thus the al-Qaida regime, and that is all on top of al-Assad acting as a non-stop killing machine since the outbreak of the revolution. The worst of it is that during the time in which Russia was discussing political solutions and conferences, they did not stop arming al-Assad!

Accordingly, it is absurd that the American way of thinking about working with al-Assad, Iran and Russia is the same today as it was nearly three years ago, even though Iran, al-Assad, and Russia have not changed their deceptive and deadly methods and are still confronting the Syrian people.

So we are dealing with two possibilities and only two possibilities. Either the American administration is continuing to search for poor excuses while fleeing from the forefront of the Syrian crisis (note especially how after each stage of the Syrian crisis someone in the American administration has said “the opportunity has passed” to do anything in Syria). Or, we face the other possibility, which is that the American administration does not know how to deal with this crisis. This possibility is more serious than hesitation and attempts to disregard it, especially since the Syrian crisis complicates the majority of situations in the region and also since it has a relationship with Iraq, Lebanon, even Jordan and others. That is apart from the sectarian kindling and the increase in terrorism in the region.

In summary, when dealing with al-Assad and Iran, it is necessary that all options are on the table. One must use a language that al-Assad understands, and that is the language of power. The first step, then, is the arming of the Free Army. Not doing so would be a waste of time and lives, and would expose the entire region to risk. That is what the events of today are confirming.