Letter to the Editor / THE MESSAGE TO ASSAD AND PUTIN

ROGER C. KOSTMAYER

The US missile attack on Assad’s airports and planes involved in chemical attacks on civilians was necessary.  All international efforts to stop the five years of genocide in Syria had failed and the number of innocent women, children and elderly killed or mutilated by various means now exceeds 500,000. The lives of millions of others have been destroyed by barrel bombs, torture and starvation, and Europe is in crisis due to the flood of desperate families fleeing Syria.  The world has been unable to stop the bloodshed until this last horrific mass murder of children using sarin gas, in part because President Assad is being propped up militarily by Russia and Iran and he had no incentive to step down or negotiate.  Now he does, because Russia has either lied about destroying chemical weapons or been duped by Assad, and Putin can’t continue to openly support these war crimes without becoming a pariah himself, and risk losing the precious warm water ports Russia needs.

Because there is no perfect long term solution in Syria doesn’t mean the world should not respond forcefully and intelligently to crimes against humanity.  A militarily restrained approach should include safe zones and military responses to attacks on hospitals and aid convoys, which is essentially the position of Secretary Clinton and other foreign policy experts.  Putin, Assad and Iran are clearly exposed for what they are, and the international community must treat them accordingly.

The goals of the US and our 66 international allies regarding Syria are twofold:  Destroy Daesh/ISIS, and stop the Syrian civil war.  This means Assad must leave and negotiations must produce a transitional solution.  Now, the Congress needs to pass a carefully thought out bill authorizing the use of force