A "U.S. blueprint for Syria"

In an article for The American Interest, published on January 27, Henri J. Barkey spells out what he calls a U.S. blueprint for Syria that he says the Obama administration should insist on being followed in order to end the war and bring peace to the area.

At the beginning of the article, Barkey is right in saying that the Russians are always a step ahead of the U.S. when it comes to Syria and the Middle East because Moscow knows what it wants in Syria, and the U.S. does not. But the problem with Barkey’s plan is that it is not up to either Russia or the U.S. to decide what is going to happen in Syria.

Barkey was also correct in saying that Obama has lost all credibility with both sides of the Syrian conflict; with the opposition for the wishy washy position he has taken of supporting --- but not in any truly effective manner --- those who are trying to topple the criminal regime, and with the regime for not standing behind his own threats of intervention in the case of crossing his so-called red line with the use of chemical weapons on civilians.

And with the five year anniversary of the conflict coming up, as well as Obama finishing up his final year in office, the current POTUS fits both definitions of what it means to be a “lame duck” president: (a) an elected official who is approaching the end of their tenure, and (b) one that is weak or that falls behind in ability or achievement.  

Because of the failure of Obama’s foreign policy in Syria, the conflict has evolved into an international humanitarian crisis that continues to escalate. Barkey’s plan would call for the division of Syria along religious and sectarian lines; three separate areas designated Alawi/Christian, Sunni, and Kurdish.

Where Barkey’s plan falls short is that the true division among Syrians lies in whether they are pro-Assad or not. The opposition to the criminal regime contains Syrians of all sects as well as religions. The regime created sectarian conflict when it not only allowed, it encouraged, minorities to persecute those who opposed the regime for its corruption and brutality with impunity thus turning Syria into a lawless state before the revolution even began.

And just how does Barkey’s plan provide for the animosity that the regime has been stirring up to further its own self-serving agenda to dissipate without justice being served? 

Syria has been a country where people of all ethnicities and religions have lived together in peace for centuries. Those who are trying to topple the brutal criminal regime --- a regime that lost its legitimacy when it began its campaign to kill Syrians and drive them from their homes and destroy their country --- have been willing to sacrifice everything in order to provide a better future for their children. 

Is the way to bring about peace in the area to let killers go free and teach the children that they are not all equal in the eyes of the world? Is Barkey also of the same mindset of those in the U.S. who would like to round up the estimated 7 million Muslims who live in America and have them isolated from the rest of the American population?

Barkey seems to not quite comprehend that the cause of the war in Syria is the criminality of the Assad regime and its allies. Their goal is already to divide Syria and they are using indiscriminate bombing of civilians and deliberate starvation sieges to accomplish their goal. 

And now Mr. Barkey you are saying that President Obama should step up to the plate and insist that the criminal regime be given what it wants for the sake of peace? And are we to suppose that your plan will stop the Assad regime from persecuting innocent Syrians anymore, and that he will release the multitude of political prisoners he has been holding and torturing in his prisons for years, and everyone will be so grateful that they will bow down and thank him for his generosity and kindness and apologize for seeking freedom and justice in the first place?

The Syrian opposition is made up of Syrians from a wide variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds Mr. Barkey. They represent those who have been forced from their homes and their homeland as well as those who are being deliberately starved inside Syria. We do not think it is up to the U.S. any more than it is up to Russia and Iran to decide the fate of the democratic Syria we are trying to build for the sake of all of our children.