Letter to the Editor / STOP THE KILLING OF SYRIAN CIVILIANS

By Roger C. Kostmayer

Today, in 2016, Syrian President Assad and Russian President Putin are bombing hospitals and aid convoys and murdering defenseless women and children with impunity.

In addition to the 500,000  Syrian deaths so far, the lives of millions of refugees are being destroyed as they attempt to escape the killing fields, and Europe can no longer absorb those who survive the journey.

The situation is both intolerable and complicated.  Diplomacy has failed. Putin and Assad miss no opportunity to cheat, lie, murder and commit crimes against humanity- until confronted by credible force.  Appeasement has never worked well with bloodthirsty dictators, and it isn’t working now.

The goals of the US and our 66 allies are: Destroy Daesh/ ISIS;  And, end the Syrian war, kick Assad out and initiate transitional negotiations.  These two goals aren’t mutually exclusive and the way to get there is by strong, clear and immediate multilateral action.

The US, UN and our allies could, with relative ease, use rockets and drones to crater Assad’s airfields and destroy most of his air force.  Safe Zones and No-Fly Zones should be imposed in order to safely provide medical, food and water, survival and humanitarian aid and enforce international law.  Any airplane, weapon system or armed force that violated the humanitarian zones would be treated as hostile acts against the UN and would be destroyed.  A UN committee would be authorized to draw up charges of crimes against humanity and pursued at the International Court at the Hague.

There are risks when resisting genocide and brutal dictators, but the risks of failing to do so are far greater.

Roger C. Kostmayer

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