All on camera as people are felled. Should the world intervene?
Generally I'm dead against intervention on foreign soil. It typically leads to prolongued and unpopular conflict (Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.). And even when rebel majorities request assistance (Libya), it appears prudent to step back quickly after victory is attained. So as Bashar al-Assad and his brutal Ba'ath Party regime dispatch tanks and machine-guns to slaughter unarmed civilians in cities across Syria, I am reluctant to see foreign military assistance coming to the aid of protesting rebels. The Syrian Opposition might call for aid from abroad at some point, however. Allegations that the international community has so far merely condemned Syrian government action, as the country possesses no oil, must be addressed.
The United States might view Syria at present as a pivotal ally in the 'Axis of Evil', but this ancient culture and nation has the right to self-determination and to advance into pluralistic democracy at its own speed. The people of Syria themselves should determine the regime's fate. Despite tribal loyalties and affiliations. I appreciate that clannish connections in such societies hamper wholesale and speedy reform to a system. But it is their land, and they must decide how to manage it.
At some point the Opposition might call loudly for foreign help, especially now that military engagement in Libya is over and personnel, arms and planes will again be freed up to engage elsewhere. But as Britain, France asnd America struggle to balance their books, will money be available?
Video streams circulating on Facebook of atrocities perpetrated in Homs, Deraa and elsewhere alert expatriate Syrians, the wider Arab world, and the international community to the reality of life on the ground. Journalists can't move freely around these days they say, so such footage is vital.
Hopefuly the blood spilt will lead to peace soon, before more innocents fall. The Arab League has stepped in with proposals, lip-service to which have been paid by the Damascus regime. But the world seems powerless at this point. It's the Syrians themselves who must choose the next course of action to take.
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