LogFAQs > #876705442

videogamefiles posted...

Assuming Assad's regime dropped these weapons (there's not been an independent inquiry and I wouldn't put it past western officials to lie about it for their own means anyway) then I agree, morally at least, something needs to be done. The problem is that going to war for a valid reason doesn't mean anything if you have no plan with how you are going to do things. I thought invading Afghanistan was the right thing but, due to having no plan for after the initial victory, the place is still in chaos.

This. This is the big problem.

I was as horrified as anyone back when Syria was still a fresh conflict. But the problem - which Obama seemed cognizant of - is that the worst possible thing you can do is a half-assed solution where you just bomb the place flat, then step back and hope democracy springs up.

Assad is a motherfucker who butchers hundreds of thousands of his own citizens. Dude desperately needs to be taken out. (Almost) no one disputes this, regardless of political affiliation. The problem, which everyone should be asking, is "What next"? Who replaces him? Because the next-strongest faction in Syria are the radical Islamist rebels. The more moderate rebels have been decimated by both the government and Russia and aren't in any condition to take over (and even if they are, they're freedom fighters - that doesn't automatically make them good governors).

If you're going to go in and depose Assad, fine, grand. But you better be able to finish the job, and that means staying afterwards and caretaking a peaceful transfer of power in a heavily-polarized land that has never known democracy. The US bungled that badly in Iraq, NATO did only marginally better in Afghanistan, so I don't hold out much hope that Syria will be handled any better.

If that proposition sounds bad to you and you're not willing to spend the significant amount of money (and lives) it will take to secure that future, the best option is probably to stay out. Destroying Assad will destabilize the country and, unless an external actor comes in to ensure stability, that could very well wind up being an even worse option.
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Kill 1 man: You are a murderer. Kill 10 men: You are a monster.
Kill 100 men: You are a hero. Kill 10,000 men, you are a conqueror!