While they support punishing Assad for the use of chemical weapons, Syria Comment objects to a broader intervention. Their reasons are numerous and worth reading in full, but this bit on the consequences of toppling Assad is worth highlighting:
Millions of Syrians still depend on the government for their livelihoods, basic services, and infrastructure. The government continues to supply hundreds of thousands of Syrians with salaries & retirement benefits. Destroying these state services with no capacity to replace them would plunge ever larger numbers of Syrians into even darker circumstances and increase the outflow of refugees beyond its already high level. Syria can get worse.
It's frankly amazing that this is not well understood following the chaos of post-Saddam Iraq. And yet, those urging the United States to "do something" to bring about the collapse of the Assad regime choose to ignore it.
(AP Photo)
