Skip to footer

Seven reasons US intervention in Syria is a bad idea

In the face of tens of thousands of deaths in Syria, something must be done. This has been the mantra of those who push for US intervention in the country’s bloody civil war. Following what the Obama administration has called clear evidence that Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against civilians, these pro-interventionists say America has a moral obligation to get involved.

While understandable, this view is wrong for seven key reasons, both moral and pragmatic.

1. Do no harm

AP
A UN investigation team with blue helmets speaks with Free Syrian Army fighters in the Damascus-area town of Zamalka, Syria, Aug. 29.

The call for intervention is surely trumped, even on humanitarian grounds, by the principle borrowed from medicine: first, do no harm – or, in this case, no greater harm than already done.

US air strikes on Damascus and Homs, with every risk of civilian casualties, would almost certainly provoke an enraged response by government forces. A conflict whose flames have already fanned into Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey could well sweep toward Israel (which constitutes the only strategic US interest in the region). An even broader and more perilous ripple effect would be felt if any Russians or Iranians were among the victims of an attack.

David C. Speedie is director of the US Global Engagement program at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

1 of 7
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.