Syria

[Spencer Graves]

Hello, All:


According to the Associated Press a few hours ago, Obama said
"the U.S. should launch a military strike to punish Syrian President
Bashar Assad". However, Obama will first "ask permission from
Congress."
(http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-made-minute-decision-syria-approval-20127557)


Thanks to all of you who contacted the White House and your
congressional representatives on this issue. You may know that
Feinstein and Boxer seem eager to endorse US military action there.
Lofgren was one of 140 members of the US House signing a letter
insisting that the President's unilateral action in Libya in 2011 was
"unconstitutional", and demanding that he seek congressional approval
before acting in this case.


Below please find a copy of my email to Boxer on this. More
detail on my position, including several citations to supportive
literature, appears on my blog at "effectivedefense.org", also cited below.


If you haven't already, I encourage you to write your
congressional representatives and all your acquaintances about this --
as I'm doing now ;-)


Best Wishes,
Spencer

p.s. Comments welcomed on this letter or the blog.


Dear Senator Boxer:

I agree that we should so something about the crisis in Syria. However,
I'm very concerned about any military action there. The record of other
US military action since World War II raises the following concerns:

1. The rationale for interventions of this type has often been
contradicted by information available later. In the debate leading to
the invasion of Iraq in 2003, TV personalities in the US and Britain
were fired for raising too many questions about intelligence that later
turned out to be wrong.

2. The benefits of military force have routinely been overstated.

3. Mission creep seems inevitable.

4. The risk of blowback is far higher than typically assumed.

5. Instead, we should push harder for deescalation. Violence begets
violence, while democracy and rule of law are promoted by nonviolence.

For more on each of these points, including reference to the historical
record, see my blog on "Intervening in Syria" at effectivedefense.org
(https://sites.google.com/site/effectivedefenseorg/blog/intervening-in-syria).


Thanks, Spencer Graves


--
Spencer Graves, PhD
Executive Director
effectivedefense.org
751 Emerson Ct.
San Jos�, CA 95126
ph: 408-655-4567
web: www.effectivedefense.org