Syria-Intervention or No

An open letter to Steve Chabot,

My Dear Representative,

I am totally and completely against intervening in the Syrian Civil War, either for regime change or as our President says, to teach President Assad a lesson. The man was wrong to gas his own people. I am not disputing that. However, the Syrian conflagration is not the only one burning across the globe. It is not the only place where women and children are dying because of the whims and power grabs of money hungry dictators and despots.

The poor, women and children, suffer right here in the United States, thanks in great part to the very laws and regulations put into place by this Congress, which is now debating who has the moral ground. They suffer and die daily in Africa because Hutus and Tutsis continue to fight the colonial wars begun a hundred years ago by white conquerors bent on raping the continent of its vast natural resources. Past illegal wars have nearly bankrupted our country, while making a few men rich from the spoils of oil. We don't have the moral ground when it comes to humanitarian principles, Representative, despite what our President would like us to believe.

My first concern is the President's call for “limited engagement.” He says the hit will be a surgical strike designed to punish. All recent past actions have been described as limited, yet here we are struggling to disengage from both Iraq and Afghanistan years later and at a monumental cost to taxpayers, as we watch our own cities fall down into decay. Limited engagement by Bill Clinton resulted in the attack on the Trade Towers on 9/11. Limited strikes in Somalia resulted in yet another deadly fiasco. The so called punishment strikes only seem to punish us. Considering that nearly all of the Republicans who voted to support President Bush's calls for war are still in place, I don't believe that anything will be kept at “limited.” The president aligning with John McCain, the very man calling for regime change dating back to the past election bothers me greatly. If I wanted John McCain to represent me, I would have voted for him.

And let me be perfectly honest, I am very disappointed in President Obama. I voted for men and women whom I thought would keep us out of war, not jump to get into another one. I voted for men and women whom I thought would use those billions of dollars dedicated to war, to healing unemployment, low wages and other major problems affecting our country.

I also think the time has come  for the United States to listen to its people as well as the international community. I think acting without UN sanction or NATO is a big mistake. I mean what happens if sometime in the future Russia or China decides to jump in behind one of their allied countries?

I hold no illusions about Congress' love for the people it purports to represent. A congress ready willing and more than able to attempt to derail healthcare, medicare, social security and education while our cities decay, doesn't give a damn about its people and I'm probably wasting time writing this letter. But I've got to try to make you understand what kinds of hell you continue to inflict upon the people while attempting to stand on moral ground.

Congressman Chabot, bigger men and women would stand up for a peace process. Bigger men and women would take into consideration the sacrifices already made by the people before asking them to make more.  We don't need bullets or missiles. We need talk and communication. We need time to heal. 

I hope that when the time comes you will not be stampeded into voting for another war action that benefits the few rather than the many.

Respectfully,