This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Praises to President Obama for asking Congress to approve an American intervention in the Syria civil war. We need a national debate about this. I hope we ask the right questions.
How many Syrians died in the alleged chemical attack? Who carried out the chemical attack? Should Congress believe American intelligence on chemical warfare given its track records in Iraq and Afghanistan?
If the U.S. military does intervene in Syria, what does it attack? We should not kill innocent civilians. We must punish those who ordered the chemical attack, if indeed that happened.
European, Russian and Middle East militaries could do this job. Where are they? How do we keep a Syrian intervention from evolving into the 2013 revival of Sarajevo 1914? How do we keep the intervention from escalating into a war with Russia and Iran?
Why can Israel have nuclear weapons but Iran cannot have such weapons and Syria cannot have chemical weapons? It would be nice to have a national discussion about the Middle East without the hypocrisies of politics.
Obviously the Syrian government should not be gassing its citizens, but this is a case for The Hague court.
Rick Soulier
Provo