A child flashes the V-sign for victory as a rebel of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is seen in the Syrian village of Jussiyeh on March 6, 2012, just across from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa region. Syrian men, women and children fleeing the government blitz on the flashpoint city of Homs are now living in this village in dire conditions, relying on handouts to survive.
I take a respite from U.S. politics, at least until tomorrow when I will again draw up the various scenarios for Mitt, Newt and Rick. That seems fun, even trite, when compared with discussing the horrors of what is going on in Syria.
President Obama — and, frankly, every single world leader — need to stop sitting on their collective hands. Syria remains on the United Nations Commission on Civil Rights as overseen by UNESCO. Really? At least remove them from this commission, and DO IT NOW. How can this be? I know that the rules of the United Nations are to be respected. I grudgingly appreciate that China and Russia are well within their rights to obstruct any kind of action on Syria. The Security Council wouldn’t even condemn Syria, and that was when only around 3,000 had died.
Now more than 8,000 have died and absolutely nothing has changed. But UNESCO is not the Security Council, and Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon needs to step in and remove Assad from anything that even comes near the words “human right.” The world sits idly by as the Assad murder machine pushes forward.
Thursday, the deputy minister of oil in Syria apparently defected to the opposition. I don’t know how important that is; is it tantamount to Energy Secretary Steven Chu switching parties? I joke, but I am grateful that it was reported. For even if it means nothing, it keeps Syria in the news. We have to keep Syria in the news. Let us do that at “The Young Turks,” and let every media outlet in the world do that until this man and his regime are over.
I don’t write with a solution. I would like to arm the opposition. I would like Arab condemnation. I would like to see the world participate. It isn’t easy. I know that. But uneasy action is better than inaction in just about everything we do. America may not have it in our charter that we police the world. However, if we are as Christian a nation as we purport to be, then we should at least lead when it comes to Samaritanism.
Bill Clinton cites as his greatest regret his “personal failure” to stop the slaughter in Rwanda. Eight hundred thousand died in Rwanda. Syria is one percent of the way there. I hope that President Obama hears Mr. Clinton’s regret.
