No Good Choices

I have followed the civil war in Syria since it began.  Disheartening as it is, the news that Bashir al-Assad authorized the use of sarin nerve gas on his people (likely for a second time) was no particular surprise to me.  While I understand the reasoning behind the Obama Administration's condemnation of the attack and the reluctant decision to consider a military response, I remain undecided as to a proper response to Assad's actions.  Syria is a mess with good guys in short supply.  The fact is that while there are plenty of policy options on the table (invade, bomb a lot, bomb a little, do nothing), none of them are very good choices.   

Those bad choices are made worse by the reluctance of traditional American allies to support us.  This has less to do with the fact that there are no good options or even international criticism of Obama foreign policy than it does with the very painful reality that our Bush-era post 9/11 foreign policy choices were so grossly abusive of our allies. The ways we handled Afghanistan in the years after our invasion have not inspired the world's confidence, let alone our allies.  There, an attack that might very well have had a legitimate purpose, rapidly evolved into a morass of poor planning made worse by the arrogance of American leaders.  But it was our ill-advised invasion of Iraq, driven by the assertions lies that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, that really tipped the balance against the U.S. as an honest broker of foreign policy information.  

Between Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of people have died as a result of American hubris.  There is a continuing price to be paid for it, as the Obama Administration is learning right now.  In dealing with Syria in 2013, we are reaping the consequences of America's failures in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The world no longer sees the U.S. as a reliable voice of the moral high ground.  Our motives are suspect and our judgment is no longer guaranteed to be trustworthy.

None of this is to excuse the Obama Administration from some errors in the handling of the complex problem that is Syria.  But there was never an obvious or easy policy road in Syria and that reality, combined with our own actions after 9/11, has landed us squarely in this moment.   Given the U.S. domestic political climate right now, I think that President Obama was right to ask for Congressional authorization before he takes military action.  It speaks volumes about our own dysfunctional politics that those conversations have been less about what is needed in Syria than it is has been yet another opportunity for the GOP to throw mud in the President's direction.   These days our own behavior is a cautionary tale about democracy.

In the meantime, the U.N. estimates that more than 6.5 million Syrians have been displaced.  There are thousands of Syrian refugees pouring into camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.  Innocents suffer and die while different factions in Syria maneuver for power.  The Syrian government is a threat to its own citizens.  Just as there seem to be no good choices for the Syrians, there are no good choices for American foreign policy toward Syria.  Worse yet is the reality that in the United States we have lost sight about the source of our foreign policy leadership failure, seemingly anxious to prove decisively that we are no longer fit to lead the world.

Talk, don't shoot. Talk.

Ever since I read this Deborah Solomon interview with Ari Folman in the New York Times magazine, I've been thinking about something Folman says in the piece. Folman, who made the film "Walz with Bashir," about the 1982 Israeli-Lebanaon War, is speaking of his feelings about war and the problems in the Middle East and as the interview ends he says, "Talk, don't shoot. Talk."

I opened my January 12 edition of Newsweek to see a picture of a family burying their four-year-old daughter, a victim of the most recent bout of violence in Gaza. I can't think of this war without seeing that child in my mind. This past week, with its news that the Israelis bombed United Nations trucks as the UN delivered food and medical supplies into Gaza has made me long for a voice in the Middle East who can get folks to the table to talk.

The situation in Gaza is just the most recent event in a long series of events whereby Israel, the Palestinians, and the surrounding nations choose violence over conversation. I'm not saying that previous conversations have yielded a peaceful agreement because – obviously – they have not. But the current situation, in which the Israelis try to subdue the urban maze of Hamas-controlled Gaza, is clearly not lending itself to a peaceful solution for now or for the long-term. Bombing UN trucks and taking out other UN-controlled buildings because they may harbor Hamas terrorists is just not okay.

Let's stipulate right no that no one has clean hands in the Middle East. Some have dirtier hands then others. But I keep seeing images from Gaza that show miserable desperate people. And I know, I know, that putting 4 year olds into graves will not solve any problem in this world. It will not make things better. It will not provide security for anyone.

Surely the Israelis and the Palestinians understand that they must find some compromise lest they destroy themselves while trying to ruin one another. The path to a peaceful solution will not be paved with bullets and rocket fire. And it won't be easy. But it might be simple: Talk, don't shoot. Talk.