Artem Muchnik

GVPT200

October 24, 2013

Recently there was and to some extent still is a large debate of whether the United States should take action in the conflict in Syria, and from all of the information I have heard I find that to some extent for the best personal interest of the United States that it is best to avoid mixing into this conflict as the United States has done before for many other conflicts such as Iraq, Iran etc. But from a global humanitarian standpoint it is quite important to intervene in the ongoing conflict. After Reading “The West Must Finally Respond” by Radwan Ziadeh and “Weapons Assad Uses Shouldn’t Affect U.S. Policy” by Stephen M. Walt, I came to a final conclusion of that it is best to actually take action and intervene in the conflict, and agree with Radwan Ziadeh. Although multiple times I kept changing my mind; as it is quite possible that even if it is in some ways beneficial to Syria, involvement could possibly end up being detrimental to the United States.

The ways it could be beneficial to Syria is that such an intervention would eliminate the threat of Assad killing more of his citizens. Although on the other side, there is a possibility that the involvement of the United States will just create a higher death toll due to the stronger weapons that would probably be used. The ways that such an intervention could have a negative impact on the United States would be for example if after such an intervention, a more radical government could be established due to a take-over from some radical groups there, which would mean more trouble for the United States. Also if looking at it from a different point of view, if the United States doesn't get involved, that would ruin their reputation due to the fact that Obama already drew the "red line".  

According to the article by Radwan Ziadeh, Assad has still not been held accountable for any crimes he has committed, as the article states “This made Assad feel immune to any international action against him, which in turn gave him more confidence with every step he took toward committing additional levels of violence against the Syrian people.” Thus, “The United States, in concert with an international coalition of the willing, must bring a hasty end to the Syria conflict and prevent horrific chemical attacks like those inflicted on Eastern Ghouta last week.” I completely agree that Assad has gone way to far and that is indeed time to put an end to his tyrannical reign. We must intervene for many different reasons other then his out of control actions, such as that from a humanitarian perspective it is the right thing to do. Every day more and more people lose their lives during this conflict, and it is not right for a state to put their own people in harms way no matter what the reason is. 

For example a previous conflict, the Rwanda genocide ended up with many civilian deaths, and during that period of time the United States did not intervene in the conflict, and it had a terrible outcome. I feel as though if the United States doesn’t take a humanitarian standpoint on the Syrian issue, then a similar outcome might happen and a lot of lives will be lost. It is also not only the United States who should get involved but any “international coalition of the willing”, meaning any other states with a similar view on the issue should help too. 

Overall, I feel that it is very important to put an end to this conflict as soon as possible, and since there is no way to peacefully end it via negotiation, it is time to take it to the point of intervention. If nothing is done Assad will only grow power hungry and most likely keep up his “desperate attempt to crush the revolution”, and not only that but he will also go un-punished for the crimes he has committed against his own people.