Anne Marie Slaughter's bad advice on Syria
Anne-Marie Slaughter offers a strategy for intervening in Syria:
It is time for bold action, of the kind Mr Obama took in deciding to go after Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and to intervene in Libya. In Syria this would mean putting together a coalition of countries that would commit to providing heavy weapons (and possibly air cover) to all commanders on the ground who sign the â??Declaration of Valuesâ? supporting a democratic and pluralist Syria put forward by the nine commanding generals of the military council of the FSA. To receive weapons, these commanders must show they control safe zones and admit foreign journalists, civil society activists and the UN to monitor the implementing of the declarationâ??s principles. They must also allow citizen journalists to upload photographs of what they witness to an official website maintained by the coalition.
Let's presume that rebel commanders sign and abide by this declaration. Let's further imagine that this cohort successfully overthrows Assad. That still leaves the entire post-war transition to manage. That's the most important part! How is that going to work? What gives Slaughter confidence that the forces on the ground in Syria can cohere around a new, modestly improved government? Who manages that transition? Who provides security for that transition?
It's rather astounding that Washington policymakers can talk so blithely about waltzing into another Middle Eastern state with the memory of the Iraq war and its attendant debacles so fresh.
