Syria Getting Worse Every Week

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/10/20121014103651157108.html

Last week Syria was struck by Turkish explosives after a rogue Syrian explosive killed Turkish civilians. This week, the Syrian government is starting to once again use cluster bombs to attack civilian populations in regions controlled by the rebels. The use of cluster bombs has been banned in most countries and human rights groups declare the use of cluster bombs to be a war crime. This is due to the fact that the bombs often do not explode right away but remain active for up to a year. Oddly enough the United States has not banned the use of cluster bombs.

What struck me most about this article was the proof of consistent chaos in Syria. Every week some new bit of chaos has ensued in the country. Something else that intrigued me was the video in the article which said this has not been a civil war in which people on the ground are fighting with other people on the ground. Largely, the rebels have had success on the ground while the government uses weapons such as cluster bombs to kill civilians and rebels. I think this is greater evidence that the United States should intervene in Syria. The rebels are already a sizeable force on the ground, so we wouldn't need to deploy ground troops. We would merely need to prevent the use of airplanes by the government and I think the war could be over relatively quickly. However, neither Romney or Obama will take this stance because they have both shown themselves to be slaves of public opinion. Since public opinion wouldn't want the war, neither candidate would be willing to go to war even if they knew that it would be better in the long run if we asserted our hegemonous dominance in the world.

Jon Kingzette