Is Syria Our Problem?

Whose Problem Is Syria? -- Eli Lake, Daily Beast

Is the Syria crisis a humanitarian disaster, a matter of national security or both? Eli Lake reports on the debate and the passionate argument for intervention from a former CIA agent.

At the end of August when President Obama appeared close to authorizing limited air strikes in Syria, members of Congress and the commentary class compared the moment to the run up to the war in Iraq. But a long time veteran of the CIA and FBI says the real parallel is Rwanda, when America and the world did nothing as the country’s Hutu majority slaughtered at least half a million people in the course of three months.

Speaking at The Daily Beast’s Hero Summit, Philip Mudd, the intelligence veteran, said the Syria crisis was a humanitarian disaster that America’s strategic class has chosen to talk about in the language of national security. “We are morally crippled by war,” he said. “105,000 people are dead, what will tell our children?”

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My Comment: After fighting wars in Iraq and (still fighting) in Afghanistan .... getting involved in a sectarian conflict like Syria's is the worst thing to do. Fortunately .... there is very little if any support in the West on doing just that.