Oct. 22 Initial Debate on Syria

In the October 22, 2012 presidential debate with moderator Bob Schieffer the second part of the Middle East question was – Should we reassess our policy on Syria? President Obama said – we’ve organized the international community into saying Assad has to go, we’ve initiated sanctions and made sure they’re isolated, we’ve provided humanitarian aid and we’re organizing the opposition and are particularly interested in mobilizing the moderates in Syria but ultimately the Syrian people have to decide their destiny; we’re working with others like Israel and Turkey but we have to make sure that we don’t put arms in the hands of those who can turn them against us. Romney responded with – Syria is Iran’s only ally in the Arab world so this is an opportunity for us; Syria is Iran’s route to the sea and their route to arm the Hezbollah in Lebanon which threatens Israel; Romney used a lot of words to say the same thing Obama did and didn’t offer anything new accept that he wouldn’t be relying of the UN or Russia to do something – we should be taking the leadership role but not on the ground with the military.

How in the heck can he or anyone else believe that Syria is Iran’s route to the sea when Iran has tried to block the Strait of Hormuz? If he can’t get the geography right he definitely shouldn’t be in charge of foreign policy. He should also be aware that Russia is an ally to Syria because they supply the weapons to that government. So even though Syria may be Iran’s only Arab ally by Russia’s support of Syria they too are an ally of Iran’s in the region.

No one saw what was coming in Syria. Bashar Al-Assad was quiet and reserved and lacked interest in politics or the military; he went to medical school and in 1988 started work as a physician in the army; he attended postgraduate studies at the London Western Eye Hospital but in 1994, after his elder brother was killed, he was recalled to Syria and entered the military academy. In 1998 Al-Assad took charge of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and running unopposed was elected President of Syria in 2000 and 2007. Because of this history I believe the President is right in that it’s ultimately up to the Syrian people to decide their destiny just as the Libyans did.