Time to act in Syria

The horrifying images from Syria of men, women and children killed in an apparent chemical weapon attack by the Bashar Assad regime has met with outrage and revulsion around the world. And so it should. But expressions of outrage and revulsion by governments around the world is not enough.

If there was ever any doubt about how evil the Assad regime is, the latest horror should dispel it. Between 100 and 1,300 people were likely gassed to death this week, and sure, there is no definitive proof yet that the deaths were caused by chemical weapons, or that the Syrian military indeed launched them. But numerous experts who have examined the television footage have no doubt a chemical agent was involved, and the Assad regime is the only one in the conflict with a chemical weapons arsenal capable of causing such carnage. It has done it before. After what happened on the outskirts of Damascus, a civilized world cannot just wring its collective arms in dismay, and then do nothing until the next massacre.

‘I’ve made it clear to Bashar al-Assad and all who follow his orders: We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people ...’ U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

This is the time for action, and it is particularly time for President Barack Obama to put up or shut up on Syria. Obama has drawn many red lines on Assad’s use of chemical weapons, and now is the time to see if he has the courage of his convictions to act.

This is what Obama said on Aug. 20, 2012: “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”

Vice-President Joe Biden drove home the point on March 4, adding: “Because we recognize the great danger Assad’s chemical and biological arsenals pose to Israel and the United States, to the whole world, we’ve set a clear red line against the use or the transfer of those weapons.”

And to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that he means business, this is Obama on March 21 nailing it down: “I’ve made it clear to Bashar al-Assad and all who follow his orders: We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, or the transfer of those weapons to terrorists. The world is watching; we will hold you accountable.”

We recognize that there are no easy solutions or risk-free options in Syria. We also recognize that war-weary Americans don’t want their country sucked into another never-ending war. And we acknowledge that no government should contemplate the awful prospect of military action without careful analysis of the costs and the endgame.

No doubt there are enormous risks associated with any military action or intervention in Syria, whether it is a no-fly zone, attempts to secure Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, or providing heavy arms to Syrian rebels.

But there are also huge risks to doing nothing. As the world sits and watches, the slaughter continues, the exodus from Syria into neighbouring countries increases with all the associated destabilizing factors, and alQaida influence in the country grows stronger as its fighters dig deeper and deeper.

Diplomacy is always the preferred solution, but the world has nothing to show for it so far. The inbuilt paralysis at the UN offers no hope that a diplomatic solution is possible. With veto-wielding Russia firmly entrenched in Assad’s corner, nothing meaningful will come out of the Security Council. In the wake of the latest horror, the Security Council couldn’t even agree on a basic statement condemning the Syrian attack because Russia and China won’t have it. Indeed, with a straight face, Russia claimed the Syrian rebels staged the chemical attack to make the Assad regime look bad.

It is clear that diplomacy won’t work. Russia won’t budge. Assad won’t change. So what’s left to do?

Nobody wants the U.S. to go to war in Syria. No one wants American boots on the ground in Damascus or Aleppo. But it is at times such as these that true leadership emerges. The most powerful country in the world must find a way, and if that means leading a coalition of the willing — including Canada — to stop the carnage in Syria, so be it.

At the very least, Obama should stop making excuses and help disable the Assad regime or give the Syrian rebels the heavy weapons they need to fight.

We certainly understand Obama’s predicament. His choices are fraught with danger, but he is the leader of the free world, and he must lead. He must show that when the president of the United States says the use of chemical weapons is a “red line,” that means something.