A Time to Compromise Beliefs

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, you may recall, ran for president against obama, waged an honorable campaign, and lost. he has served in the U.S. senate a long time, is a viet nam war hero, and knows a great deal about matters relating to military concerns.

recently he went to syria secretly - secretly because going openly would have put him at great risk - in order to assess the situation in the two year old syrian civil war, a war in which the united states and the european union support the rebels, and the russianss, iranians, and palestinians support the government of dictator bashar assad.

For a long time it has been assumed in america that assad's government would inevitably fall, because the rebesl appeared to have the upper hand. However, just recently russia, iran, and hezbollah, the palestinian liberation organization, have begun pouring aid, in the forms of fighters and weapons, into the war on the side of assad.

Senator McCain reports that because of this recent infusion of aid, the assad forces now have the upper hand, and will prevail, unless the U.S. steps in and offers help to the rebels, with whom we americans are most definitely allied.

Even those of us who are isolationsists non interventionsists anti-imperialists should pay serious attention to what senator mccain says. For the assad government to remain in power would be a terrible tragedy for the human community; one more brutal dictator left in power, free to continue the oppression, torture, and murder of his own people, of any among his own people who oppose him, for whatever legitimate and appropiately expressed reason.

The best course of action for president obama might be to put senator mccain in charge of the american response to the syrian situation, in charge of the american aid effort to the rebels, with the senator acting as a sort of pro temp secretary of state and secretary of defense both, to work closely with the holders of those two cabinet offices.

Seldom is the occasion when americans should send weapons anywhere, and often are the occasions when weapons and soldiers are sent, but this...this is different.....well, of ocurse, the same can be said of any american intervention anywhere in the world...but.....this....is different....

But there comes a time to contradict one's own closely held beliefs, to step outside oneself, and see things in a new and fresh light, and now is one such time. Let all of us who steadfastly believe in the doctrine of american non intervention in the affairs of other nations admit that, in this one instance, it is our turn to compromise our beliefs....