Opposing view: We should not up the ante in Syria

Americans understandably reacted with horror to the reported chemical weapons attack in Syria last weekend. This act is only the latest in a long list of atrocities from the 7-year-old Syrian civil war.

But U.S. foreign policy should be guided by a realistic grand strategy, not knee-jerk responses to developments on the ground. Bashar Assad is a brutal thug, but deepening U.S. involvement in Syria’s civil war would undermine U.S. security.

All sides in this civil war have spilled innocent blood; there are no good guys. Assad, a member of the Alawite sect of Shiite-Islam, is backed by Russia — which has ties to the Assads going back to the Cold War days — and by Shiite Iran. They are pitted against Sunni rebels supported by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other Persian Gulf states. These Sunni powers have directly or indirectly funded jihadist groups, including alQaeda. Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to find and arm “moderate” rebels have failed spectacularly.

In other words, if America ups the ante in Syria, we entangle ourselves in the 1,400-year-old confessional-struggle between Shiite and Sunni Islam. This has nothing to do with protecting Americans.

If we take down Assad, radical Sunni groups would quickly fill the power vacuum left in our wake, as happened after we toppled Saddam Hussein — also a brutal dictator — in Iraq. Those clamoring for punitive military strikes must explain what happens next; outcomes matter, not intentions.

America has roughly 2,000 troops in eastern Syria on Iraq’s border to assist Kurdish forces — among our friends in this fight — as they battle ISIS. If President Trump strikes the Assad regime, without congressional authorization no less, he risks bogging our military down in Syria indefinitely. This would jeopardize our national security, spread our military thin, and risk direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.

American soldiers deserve to come home now that their mission — fighting ISIS — is nearly complete.

Willis L. Krumholz is a fellow at Defense Priorities.