There may be something positive though

Submitted by Jeff (United States), Apr 8, 2017 at 14:59

Hi Dr. Pipes,

I agree the Syrian civil war is no place for us to be. If we enter the war, particularly if we become an occupying force for any period of time, Arabs will hate us even more than they'll hate us for not entering the war. And what's to like on either side? Assad may be your plain old evil Islamic dictator(just like his father) but the Syrian army at least has never been accused of deliberate killing sprees in Christian villages.

President Trump should say plainly that we don't like either side, we don't want another Libya, and we're not inclined to rush to the aid of people that hate us for taking out the evil Islamic dictator next door. It wasn't Americans who crowded the streets yelling "Our blood and our souls for you, O Saddam."

Having said that, I'll concede that some good may come from one devastating strike at a Syrian air base. It does send some signals:

1. I'm not Obama. Those days are over.
2. I'm not predictable. I may make decisions based on emotion which makes me even more unpredictable.
3. You know I plan to build up my military force which could make my unpredictability even more interesting in the not too distant future.
4. Are you listening Tehran? I have no more faith in the nuclear agreement made with you than I had in the agreement that removed all chemical weapons from Syria.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".