Ten years after Iraq invasion, don’t make same error in Syria

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http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/03/21/ten-years-after-invasion-of-iraq-lets-not-make-same-error-in-syria/

MAR 21, 2013, 6:38 PM NATIONAL POLITICS | POLITICS

Ten years after Iraq invasion, don’t make same error in Syria

Ten years ago this week, the United States invaded Iraq based on false pretenses. We should be vigilant in making sure this does not happen again.

Very few in Congress asked difficult questions, much less challenged our military intervention, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of American military casualties. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 – and he had no weapons of mass destruction.

Our country does not invade and occupy others for the purposes of liberating people, stopping bloodshed, and establishing democracy.  If that were the case, we would have intervened a decade ago in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had a conflict that took over two million lives. Or we would have deployed troops to stop the genocide that took place in Rwanda and Burundi during the Clinton administration.

Don’t be fooled by those who justify military intervention with humanitarian or democratizing rhetoric. America intercedes militarily in others’ lands primarily based upon our national interests – not the interests of other people.

Some politicians and pundits are currently beating war drums regarding the conflict in Syria. Like Iraq, there are uncorroborated claims that Syria has – and may have used – chemical weapons. The Syrian government says rebels used gas against civilians while rebels say that the Al-Assad regime has. We don’t know the facts.

We need to ask some simple questions.

First, is Syria a threat to the American homeland?  No, it poses no direct military threat to America, nor do we have any reason to believe that they are planning on attacking us.

Second, will our military presence further destabilize the region? We can see right now that Iraq has more internal violence than in the final years of Saddam. There were no suicide bombings at houses of worship and in public markets during Saddam’s reign.  Our presence in Syria would invite more drama – primarily from non-Syrian players coming in based upon our presence.

Third, do the Syrian people want us on the ground there? Or carpet-bombing their country?  I think not.  Even the Syrian American Council, a group working for the removal of the Al-Assad regime, is not calling for direct American military intervention.  They want our nation to arm rebels – not just provide Syrians with food and blankets.

In Syria, it is clear that the resistance to the Al-Assad regime has unintentionally opened up the door to extremists, in particular Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra, to capitalize on instability. Reportedly, Iran’s Al-Quds Forces and Hezbollah have been involved in the fray. In other words, Syria is an extremely messy situation in which our military should not intervene. At the end of the day, regional players have to take the lead in enforcing a viable solution for peace and stability to Syria.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq caused too much loss of life and treasure. We simply cannot afford to get ourselves entangled in another war.

Most of us want Syria to have freedom and just governance. What we don’t have the stomach for is another American military intervention in the Middle East.

DawudWalid

Dawud Walid is currently the Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), which is a chapter of America's largest advocacy and civil liberties organization for American Muslims and is a member of the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC) Imams Committee. Walid has been interviewed and quoted in approximately 150 media outlets ranging from the New York Times, Wall St Journal, National Public Radio, CNN, BBC, FOX News and Al-Jazeera. Furthermore, Walid was a political blogger for the Detroit News from January 2014 to January 2016, has had essays published in the 2012 book All-American: 45 American Men on Being Muslim, the 2014 book Qur'an in Conversation and was quoted as an expert in 13 additional books and academic dissertations. He was also a featured character in the 2013 HBO documentary "The Education of Mohammad Hussein." Walid has lectured at over 50 institutions of higher learning about Islam, interfaith dialogue and social justice including at Harvard University, DePaul University and the University of the Virgin Islands - St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses as well as spoken at the 2008 and 2011 Congressional Black Caucus Conventions alongside prominent speakers such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Keith Ellison. In 2008, Walid delivered the closing benediction at the historic 52nd Michigan Electoral College in the Michigan State Senate chambers and gave the Baccalaureate speech for graduates of the prestigious Cranbrook-Kingswood Academy located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Walid was also a featured speaker at the 2009 and 2010 Malian Peace and Tolerance Conferences at the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa. He has also given testimony at hearings and briefings in front of Michigan state legislators and U.S. congressional representatives, including speaking before members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington, D.C. Walid has studied under qualified scholars the disciplines of Arabic grammar and morphology, foundations of Islamic jurisprudence, sciences of the exegesis of the Qur’an, and Islamic history during the era of Prophet Muhammad through the governments of the first 5 caliphs. He previously served as an imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit and the Bosnian American Islamic Center in Hamtramck, Michigan, and continues to deliver sermons and lectures at Islamic centers across the United States and Canada. Walid was a 2011 - 2012 fellow of the University of Southern California (USC) American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute (AMCLI) and a 2014 - 2015 fellow of the Wayne State Law School Detroit Action Equity Lab (DEAL). Walid served in the United States Navy under honorable conditions earning two United States Navy & Marine Corp Achievement medals while deployed abroad. He has also received awards of recognition from the city councils of Detroit and Hamtramck and from the Mayor of Lansing as well as a number of other religious and community organizations.

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