Any sufferers in the arabic world

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Aug 30, 2013 at 14:12

Dear Dr Pipes,

I agree with you that war is a serious business and a half-hearted war should never be pursued. If you read the news stories about Iraqi Economy today, you are more likely to find positive news than negative. Words like 'export', 'import', and 'booming' are used to describe what is happening in Iraq today. This is about 21 years after the first Iraq war broke (it was in 1992 when the first President Bush ordered the liberation of Kuwait). We fully well know about thousands of Iraqis and Americans who suffered in those wars. We also know about the people who got killed in the post-war civil-conflicts in different parts of Iraq. We know about 9/11. Both the positives and the negatives of the wars in Iraq here for us to see. .

Whether we go to war in Syria to remove Assad should be decided after evaluating these positives and negatives. I still believe that unilaterally attacking Syria will not be the right action for the US. Warfare is a serious business, as you have said. It must be executed after massive consensus is achieved and that consensus must be achieved not only in the west and the east but also in the Arab world. .

In this forum we have wondered if there are any moderate muslims but we do not ever encourage those Muslims to speak up if they exist. A moderate is a person who can see faults in there way of thinking (as against believing it to be a word of God that must be defended at all costs). Are their Muslims in Syria who are tired of the wars? Is there a Muslim family who wanted to live a simple life and work for its prosperity and for health and happiness for its children? Is the life of such a family interrupted or permanently disrupted due to these wars? Does this family hold islamism responsible for their plight? .

If the answer to any of the above three question is a yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel. These families need to speak up. They need to create the consensus that is needed to launch a war against Assad. I invite Muslims to speak up against Islamism if they have suffered due to it. I invite them to jump into non-violent protests and into deliberate and planned wars with consensus.

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