The children of Syria and the hot mess there:
If by some horrible quirk of fate, every single child in Syria had been killed by 'conventional' means in the last month, the US and everyone hollering would not be saying a damn thing about using force.
Chemical warfare is horrific. It produces mass casualties that die in an unimaginable fashion. The substance is indiscriminate.
War is hell on everybody involved directly. Trying to enforce 'rules' for war is an ironic concept to say the least.
The suffering produced varies in degree and method, but it is as real for one as for another. Pain is pain.
Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin said,"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." She was right. You can prevail over an enemy. However, when looking at the death and destruction, it is sobering to consider what is lost.
Spare me the hand-wringing about the dead Syrian children now. They have been dying in droves for a long time.
We selectively choose when to be outraged and about what.
The military action will make THE WEST feel better and self-righteous. What it will actually do to Syria is a known unknown. There is no easy and painless solution contrary to all popular belief.
"Crimes against humanity" is a phrase not reserved to use just about 'the bad guys'.
AND precision missile strikes aren't.
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have caused me to believe only a small percentage of what I see, and nothing of what I hear, when an issue or event is related to politics.
When the the majority of the world becomes a "farm" for wealthy private interests to pick and choose what they wish to slaughter and harvest for their profit, and various wars and conflicts (and elections) are repeatedly based on conquest for power and/or profit, all motivations for action by governments naturally become highly suspect.
It's a crying shame, but until we take the profit motivation out of war, politics, and government, it will be this way.
