I Have an Opinion Too: Intervention in Syria

Lately, I have noticed that people in this modern age have assumptions about teenagers. One of these assumptions is that we are uneducated about things going on in this world today. Though this is true for some teens, it isn't true for me. Tonight, I have an opinion too, on the subject of intervention in Syria.

On August 21, 2013 missiles filled with a fatal toxin were sent into rebel towns in Syria killing men, women, and a child majority. The rebels are known as the Free Syrian Army, consisting of 50,000 men wanting freedom from the Syrian government run by Bashar al-Assaad. Those missiles were sent by the Syrian government, aiming to kill as many rebels as possible. However, the government denies any involvement in the missiles. Today, President Obama of The United States of America wants to interfere in Syria and stop Assaad. This action is not a good one, in many more ways than one. Intervention in Syria is not the right thing to do for our nation, for our people, for the people in Syria, for the world, or for anyone.

As previously stated, President Obama wishes to interfere in the Syrian Civil War, and eventually stop President Bashar al-Assaad. The way he wants to do so is where the mistake truly is. There are two options for the President of the United States, send troops or send machines. Which option does he choose? President Obama wishes to send machines into an already scary and bloody war zone, to essentially create more war. But what will these missiles do? They’re certainly not going to only target the president of Syria who is the problem. No, these missiles are only going to do what Assaad is already doing, killing civilians. What President Obama doesn’t see is you cannot stop war with war. This is what he aims to do.

Intervention in Syria is not what the American people want. When a president is elected, he is elected to represent the people and do what is best for our country. In a September 6 poll called Gallup Poll, 51% of Americans said they were against military action in Syria, opposed to the 36% who were for it. Where is the majority vote? What the Commander in Chief doesn’t see is that his country does not want action to be taken. Intervention in Syria is not the right thing to do, for our people.

Not only is this not what Americans want to see from our president, it’s not what the world wants to see from our president. The United Nations is an international organization, which has rules that apply to all nations. In Article 51 of the United Nations Charter it is stated that military action should only be taken if there is a need for self-defense or if peace is needed to be kept between countries. If President Obama decides to take military action in Syria, he would be breaking the international law in Article 51. We once called ourselves “the greatest country in the world,” and other countries look at us that way as well. However, now, the world is seeing a country that could potentially break an international rule. Intervention in Syria is not the right thing to do for the world.

The last thing the United States needs is another war. For a little over a decade, the U.S has been fighting the war on terror. It has cost us 5 trillion dollars and 6,755 of our own fellow Americans. Our nation has grown war weary, and this our president knows. He said in a very recent speech “I know that the American people are war weary after more than a decade of war, even as the war in Iraq has ended and the war in Afghanistan is winding down. That’s why we’re not putting our troops in the middle of someone else’s war.” Something seems a little weird to me here. Is sending missiles over to the war struck country not interfering in someone else’s war? And if the president knows we’re war weary, why isn’t he stopping our country from joining in yet another war?

One of the opposing arguments to this controversy is that President Obama threatened to interfere if the toxic missiles were launched, and now people are pleading for him not to, forcing him to reconsider his threat, this making our country look weak. The only thing I see in this is a weak president who doesn’t know what to do when faced with someone who isn’t scared of him. Things could’ve been done differently, much differently, but they weren’t. President Obama should have not threatened the president of Syria in the first place. Threats don’t work when dealing with international relations, especially when the opposing country isn’t scared of a weakening country. It’s like a Chihuahua threatening a Rottweiler. The president also shouldn’t have announced his want to interfere with Syria. This raised obviously an unneeded and unwanted controversy. President Obama should have done it quietly, or not at all. Now, because of this, the President of our nation has put our country in danger, and essentially the world. It’s too late to take action now, and the president needs to see that.

I believe that President Obama has made a huge mistake in his proposition of interfering in the Syrian war. This was not the United States government’s business and the president is just digging us a deeper hole. Interference is a bad idea, and is going to create a larger struggle for our once great nation. Intervention in Syria isn’t the right thing to do for our nation, for our people, for the Syrian people, for the world, or for anyone.