Obama on Syria

Two cheers for President Obama! On his performance leading up to his speech yesterday in the Rose Garden. See video below.

Great that he is going to Congress. I hope this sets a precedent, making it harder in the future for Presidents unilaterally, and contrary to the constitution, to go to war. No guarantee this will be the case, but it is very much worth the effort, notable here because it is far from clear that the President will get the support he seeks.

Cheer two: I am pleased that he is standing against chemical warfare. Too many of my friends on the left are missing this point. In their generalized criticism about American power in the world (thus, for example, America now is “waging war on Syria”), they seem to not understand, even seem to purposively ignore, that the Assad regime in Syria has engaged in a horrific act, one of the few times since WWI that chemical weapons have been used so openly.

I know this is not the only time. I know that the U.S. was silent when Iraq used such weapons against Iran. I know that the U.S. has used chemicals in Vietnam and Iraq, and I know that Israel has used chemicals in Gaza. But Assad used chemical weapons for the sole purpose of indiscriminately killing people, his fellow citizens, actually his subjects. It was state terror, pure and simple. There are those who point to the less than certain evidence, but I think a pretty clear case has been made by the White House, and those who still doubt that Assad is a butcher do so out of willful ignorance, powered by ideology, close to home, a blind anti-Americanism. To the contrary, I believe that sometimes, there is something worse than American power, and sometimes, the U.S. does the right thing. As an expert on East and Central Europe, I especially appreciate this.

To be sure on purely humanitarian grounds, a case can be made that an attack upon Syria will only cause more causalities, the position of the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. The fear is that fighting violence with violence cannot solve the problem. But this is a sensible position only if you think that war and all acts of war are never the answer, are ruled out on moral grounds. I respect this position, but can’t buy in, as I couldn’t many years ago during the Vietnam War when I tried to convince myself that I am a pacifist. Thus, it makes sense that human rights groups are divided in their understanding of the proper course of action.

But is Obama’s outlined course the right one? I admit; I am not sure, and I have serious concerns. Violence is communication. This is clearly the case of suicide bombing, for example, and terrorism more generally. Communicative violence doesn’t directly change the balance of coercive power, but it can change opinions, affect morale, spread fear. But is this the way legitimate democracies should communicate? I fear that limited intervention in Syria is a kind of expressive politics, and not more than that. It may feel good to do something, but it is far from clear that it will do any good. Unforeseen consequences for the U.S. and the region are almost guaranteed. But then doing nothing also will have consequences, and will say something, perhaps making matters worse. I am conflicted.

It would be best if a broader coalition of nations and citizens were behind action against the Baathist regime in Syria. It would be wonderful if the UN were capable of acting. Putin’s Russia has made this impossible for the last two years, with no prospect for change. It would be much better if the opposition in Syria had a democratic face: apparently not, unfortunately. I support some action, worry about the present course, but also about alternatives.

PS. This past week marked the 50^th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Justice. I wanted to open September with serious reports and reflections. These are forthcoming. For now, I perceive tragedy revealed in the events of the week. The very positive role Lyndon Johnson played in the civil rights story was overshadowed at the end of his term as President and in the last years of his life by his big mistake in Vietnam. Thinking about Obama, I fear repetition.