Syrian Intervention (Post #3)

Over the past two years, the United States has considered an intervention in Syria to stop the atrocities committed by the Syrian government, the Assad Regime, against its own people. During this war, somewhere between 250,000 and 340,000 people have been killed as a result of the fighting by, conventional weapons, chemical weapons, torture, and other examples of violence. As the debate continues to be had in Washington, more and more people are dying in this civil war, and now Russia is involving itself on the side of the Assad Regime, which is sure to only elevate the number of casualties. I argue that the United States should involve itself in the war to end the violence, and probably should have already. The most important reason for intervention being the fact that the huge number of casualties as a result of the war, needs to end.

This is something that I believe would be easily accomplished, as American military is far superior to that of the Syrians. Not only that, but the rebel forces would be sure to accept the help of the American forces if it meant that they could finally end the war. One major counter argument to this is the intervention of the Russian forces on the side of the Assad Regime. However, I do not think that the Russians would continue to support the current Syrian government after an American intervention for two reasons. The first reason being that the vast network of international allies that the United States has compared to the small number Russia has, as mentioned in the article on Russian weakness in the Syrian intervention, would prevent them from opposing the United States. Additionally, the Russians would no longer see the battle as one worth fighting, as the loss on the Bargaining Theory of War scale that would come from fighting the United States would not be outweighed by the benefits.

Furthermore, I think the history of the United States makes it sympathetic to the Syrian rebels cause, as the events taking place in Syria are not totally dissimilar to events in our own American History. Civil war, as well as fighting against an oppressive government, are both concepts that should be relatable to the American people as a result of our Civil and Revolutionary Wars respectively. For this reason, I believe the American people could be rallied to the aide of the Syrians because of a feeling of similarity between their histories. Not only would the connection help to bolster support, but it would also give more credibility to the intervention through a sense of legitimacy. This credibility be given to the rebels cause as a result of the similarities with the American Revolutionary War that American definitely considers a legitimate cause.

Finally, despite the relative lack of success that American interventions have had in the past, because this war has a definite faction, the Syrian Rebels, to support, its success would be much more likely. This success can be seen as possible because if the U.S. is able to when the war, which seems very likely, they will have a definite faction to turn the rule of Syria over to, making the region much more stable. The United States also receives two major benefits; first, American intervention and American military power are given more legitimacy through their successful actions. Additionally, however, the United States would gain another ally in an area where allies a hard to come by and vital to U.S. interest.