Rescuing Syrian civilians is again a hot topic of discussion among foreign policy elites. In fact, for the nearly two years of the Syrian uprising, the West’s concern over Syria has been largely driven by the human toll, specifically the death toll of non-combatants. And well it should: The numbers of civilians killed in Syria is appalling. A recent, credible estimate puts the death toll at 60,000 in the last two years, and even that is likely an undercount. This tragedy prompts news coverage, along with calls for US military intervention and a war crimes trial for Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The contrast to another war is striking. The US war in neighboring Iraq prompted a civil war that took the lives of civilians by the hundreds of thousands, but Americans’ concern for these besieged civilians was noticeably less generous than it is for the Syrians. There were no charities for the million orphaned children of Iraq. Even the death toll was hotly disputed or largely ignored, as if acknowledging the scale of mortality or probing its causes and consequences would itself be a moral failing.
Comments
This commentary makes a good point about the consequences of the Bush intervention in Iraq and the Obama escalation in Afghanistan. But " The Likud government of Israel, applying its overwhelming military power against tiny Gaza, stirs our anger..."?? Speak for yourself and discard the David and Goliath analogy. Tiny Gaza, as you put it, is actually a forward military base of the Muslim world's attempt to obliterate Israel. If the fighters of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc. weren't mixed in with the civilian population of Gaza, the IDF could have turned them into mincemeat. But precisely because the Israelis -- including Likud -- are humane, the IDF hesitates to use its superior firepower to stop rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli cities.
Absolutely spot on.
Your position seems to conflict with the recent reports by retired Israeli intelligence heads. Just a point of notice. However, I never debate the Israeli issue any longer as I find most folks are merely zealots for one side or the other and therefore have no interest regarding the claims of either side or the actual facts.
Why is Syria our responsibility ? We cannot be, and should not be the world's policeman. Syria is a revolution by an oppressed people against a repressive regime. It's an INTERNAL issue, and it needs to be resolved that way.
Historically speaking the American Civil War was an American issue. Foriegn intervention would be looked back on as an afront.
To repeat everything in the world that goes on is not our business or our reponsibility. Everyone hatea a nosy neighbor.
You need to go back and read some histories of the Civil War...there was foriegn intervention. Not "boots on the ground" military intervention in the sense of British soliders fighting in battles, but the British did a lot to support the Confederacy. One read of the Emancipation Proclamation's timing is that it was given to stop the British from entering the war on the side of the Confederacy - since they had already emancipated slaves in the Empire, they could not be seen fighting to keep others enslaved.
Why was Egypt and Libya our resposibility? How's that "Arab Spring" turning out? Great if you are a Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbolla, and Iran fan.
Agree. I don't know how we 'move forward' without acknowledging mistakes. I think America is big enough and mature enough to do this.
I agree with your larger point but isn't it the media's job to inform us? Unless the media is controlled by the government it should have reported on the civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. It really doesn't matter whether we care to face it or not. It happened, it's part of history, and it should be part of the narrative going forward whenever miltary intervention is a possibility.
The media did, in fact, report on civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan (@Bendogger), though televised international news reports, and indeed reporters, were greatly reduced beginning with Iraq, leaving the BBC to fill in the gaps. But the truth is, we believe ourselves a nearly faultless people: our military actions are always justified, and damn the consequences. If thousands of civilians die as a result of our actions we look the other way. This goes back at least as far as Japan, 1945.
This comment has been removed.
Thank you for pointing out our utter lack of compunction for the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis who died and suffered because of the US's senseless ruthless destruction of a country. Has anyone been held responsible? No.