The Arkansas connection

It’s always there, no matter the topic

WHAT A mess. Untangling who are the bad guys in Syria, who are the worse guys in Syria, which ones we should root for and perhaps even help on the downlow, keeps getting muddled.

Of course there’s the al-Assad regime, may its days be limited. Because of that dictator’s war on his own people, 400,000 people have died throughout the country, and more than 5 million sent running. Then there are the militants holding down the Idlib region of the country and fighting the regime. Only many of them belong to an outfit called al-Qaida. You might have heard of it.

Now the Russians say they want to “liberate” Idlib, which brings to mind the way they “liberated” Poland in 1944. Last week, the UN led a negotiation between several parties, only to have the al-Qaida militants arrest the other side when they sat down.

Besides Russia, there are two other countries who consider themselves “guarantors” of the peace process: Turkey and Iran.

The president of Turkey, for example, says he’s in talks with the Russians and Iranians to avoid a humanitarian calamity in Idlib. And you know how concerned this latest dictator of the Turks is when it comes to treating people right. The UN is trying to evacuate, but the papers say there’s no place to evacuate to. Meanwhile, the Russians prep for their offensive.

So is there any hope?

The answer is yes, for a few Syrians. Thanks to some folks at an outfit right here in Arkansas.

The Wisdom House Project has been in the news lately. It’s a school for young orphans in Idlib. Our neighbors in Little Rock and Conway work directly with the Syrian Emergency Task Force to send supplies to those kids and to a women’s center in the same area. Any money donated goes to school supplies and other basics.

The Wisdom House Project doesn’t have any heavy armored brigades. So it’s not going to stop a Russian attack. What it can do is bring a little normalcy to a handful of families going through a civil war that’s anything but civil.

Anybody can help. There’s a website: thewisdomhouseproject.com.

There’s always an Arkansas connection. And we’re sure that for several dozen small children and women on the other side of the planet, they’re proud to have one.