A protester holds up a poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a demonstration against Israeli air strikes in Syria, in Sanaa, May 10, 2013. (Khaled Abdullah / Courtesy Reuters)
How to Oust Assad -- Michael Weiss, Foreign Affairs
And Why the United States Should Try
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke of the recent chemical attack in Syria as an “undeniable” fact -- not a subject for debate. He called it “moral obscenity” and laid the blame squarely on the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The statement was an undisguised war speech. The only question now is what form that war might take and how long the battle will last.
There are several rumors swirling. One is that the Obama administration would prefer a mere “punitive” campaign. Some precision-timed leaks to the media seem to point in this direction. But such a strategy would accomplish nothing if the goal is to deter the Assad regime from ever using chemical agents again. Over the past year, Israel has waged half a dozen pinprick strikes on caches of advanced weapons inside Syria, likely because they were destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The very number of operations attests to how little they altered Assad’s mindset: he still imports high-tech hardware.
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
Syria strikes could worsen war, analysts say -- Matt Smith, CNN
Can the U.S.’s limited military strike against Assad stay limited? -- Ian Bremmer, Reuters
Punitive US strike on Syria not enough: experts -- Mathieu Rabechault, AFP
President Obama’s Three Bad Choices in Syria -- David Francis, Fiscal Times
Obama’s third war: The folly of striking Syria -- Ralph Peters, New York Post
Syria chemical weapons response poses major test for Obama -- Kathleen Hennessey, Michael A. Memoli and Christi Parsons, L.A. Times
The War After the War in Syria -- Joshua Foust, Defense One
Reading Tweets From Iran -- New York Times editorial
Where Iraq's Maliki pins the blame for Baghdad bombings -- Tom A. Peter, Christian Science Monitor
The Age of Nationalism -- Paul Pillar, National Interest
Obama’s great Asian dawdle -- Brahma Chellaney, Japan Times
India's Woes Foretell 'Chaos and Violence' -- Jayati Ghosh, Spiegel Online
US hurdles strew China's reform path -- Francesco Sisci, Asia Times
Barack Obama's speech on 50th anniversary of March on Washington (full transcript) -- President Obama, Christian Science Monitor
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