Petition the White House: No military action in Syria

[karlita]

Please create your whitehouse.gov account, sign, and share! There's a goal of 100,000 signatures by 27 September. As of now there are only around 6,330. The President and Congress seem poised to take this action in spite of the wishes of the American people. We need to speak more loudly.

http://wh.gov/l4OOj/

Please also consider writing letters. If you can't write a letter, send a fax. If you can't send a fax, email will do. And call your Congresspeople. Find out how here:

http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Love and peace to all!

Karlita

[Christopher Rosevear]

Hi Karlita,

Thanks for the email. It's rare that people care enough about things in the Middle East before we have some sort of military presence there, so this is refreshing to see. 

I'm about to head back to the Middle East in a few months and I have to say, as I understand it currently (which is not to say I understand it as well as I could or should), I think Assad's use of chemical weapons on his own people is unconscionable. Despite the revelations a couple of weeks ago that Reagan tacitly supported Iraq's potential use of chemical weapons against Iran in the 80s (which only supports the notion that the US government is without a moral compass, not that anyone was saying it had one), I see the use of weapons like these as one of the few moral justifications to use military force to intervene in a conflict like the one in Syria. 

At risk of taking a very complex situation and making it a good-bad, right-wrong binary (and thus sounding like a stereotypically bellicose American), I have to say that I support military action in Syria, provided it avoids troop presence on the ground (which is what seems to be the case being made in Congress currently) and takes the utmost care to avoid civilian casualties (something the American military is not known for). This isn't to say that there aren't angles being played by every politician — American and otherwise — in the decisions surrounding Assad and Syria, and it isn't to say that there aren't hundreds of other conflicts happening this very minute all over the globe that America — if abiding by some kind of universal morality (as we all too often pretend to be doing, i.e. "freedom," "democracy," and all of the other platitudes we spit out to justify military action and the needless slaughter of people all over the globe, both domestic and abroad) — should be involved in. Let's not pretend for a second that military action can be executed with a clean conscience, ever. Violence is violence, plain and simple. And at the very same time (part of the paradox that I believe lies at the heart of the process mind, the it/not•it, God... however people choose to define it), I believe that those with the ability to prevent such atrocities (the United States and plenty of others) should do so after careful deliberation, engaged dialogue, and with a clear mind.

And on a personal note, as someone who has met victims of Saddam's chemical weapons who now living in refugee camps in Palestine and Lebanon, I can tell you that the effects of those chemical attacks are truly horrific. 

We live in an incredibly complex world. Morality comes in muddied hues — rarely in black and white. As someone who believes wholeheartedly that violence is wrong, it is surreal and strange to type the phrase "I support military action in Syria" before I've even had my morning coffee. But this complex world requires exhaustive critical thinking flecked with moments of action, and it isn't everyday that I see an attempt to inspire the former. So what I'm trying to say is this: 

Thank you for caring enough to encourage dialogue on the issue. I see something as banal and pedestrian as an online petition as a sign that there are people who care about things like this. Regardless of the outcome, or perhaps because of it, I love knowing that there are people like you in the world. You rock. 

Love,

C

ps. Please forgive all the (parentheticals). My writing isn't very cogent before I've had caffeine.

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Christopher Rosevear

chrisr...@mac.com

“see, I’d raither

whummel a single oor

intae the blae o thae wee flo’ers

than live fur a’ eternity

in some cauld hivvin."

-Kathleen Jamie

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[Christopher Rosevear]

I wanted quickly to add an addendum to my previous email on Syria. 

I spoke with a friend and professor of mine the other day and be had some points to make about the potential for an American military presence in Syria: 

1) Not all other options have been exhausted. There are other avenues to pursue; however, I wonder about the morality of a global system of governance (looking at you, United Nations) when one obstinate world leader can derail any hope of dialogue on the matter (now I'm looking at you, Putin). 

2) There's a good chance that if America gets involved, there will be yet another retaliation for our presence in the Middle East, a la September 11th. That may very well happen, and an American presence in Syria might be the catalyst. (I'm of the belief that there will be another terrorist attack on American soil eventually. We can't protect ourselves from every threat, and we are no different than any European country, most of which have seen some violent element of terrorism in the last century. We can't continue to economically and militarily bully the rest of the world without having some form of retribution paid back.)

3) I really do hope that we wait until we have conclusive evidence before we do anything. Not this pre-Iraq 2003 bullshit, but incontrovertible proof that chemical weapons were used by Assad against people. I don't want to attack only to realize that it was bait set by the rebel factions to gain political and military support. (Perhaps they orchestrated this and are using it as anti-Assad propaganda.)

4) Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

ps. For a laugh, this is great: http://www.theonion.com/video/nation-throws-giant-temper-tantrum-upon-learning-s,33767/

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Christopher Rosevear

chrisr...@mac.com 

"Don't be afraid to really want what you desire." - Slavoj Žižek

On Sep 5, 2013, at 7:19 AM, karlita <tru...@gmail.com> wrote:

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