Thursday, September 05, 2013

What are our objectives in attacking Syria?

In the recent past, how many countries has the US attacked? Victor Davis Hanson has the answer: Cambodia, Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Liberia, Iraq, Haiti, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Zaire, and Afghanistan.

What are our objectives in attacking Syria? Hanson writes,

But so far, the president can’t decide on the real objective in Syria, much less how to obtain it. Is the goal the elimination of WMDs, the punishment of Bashar Assad for using these weapons, restoring the president’s credibility after unwisely issuing red lines, protecting immediate U.S. national-security interests, removing Assad, or providing help to the insurgents?

If the president neither obtains congressional approval nor makes the attempt to go to the U.N., the attack will probably be unpopular abroad — even more so without any allies or American public support.

Finally, promising in advance that whatever we do will probably be short and limited will make it likely that, if it fails, it will be forgiven and forgotten — and if deemed successful, it will have little, if any, lasting strategic effects.

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