Christiane Amanpour and Fouad Ajami, on what the world can do to help the people in Syria, and whether America will ultimately take the lead.
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Filed under: Anderson Cooper • Christiane Amanpour • Fouad Ajami • Marie Colvin • Syria |
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Marie Colvin. If you do not know who she was please check her out. She is the latest American born victim of the ruthlessness of the Syrian regime. As a veteran war correspondent who covered wars across the globe for the last two decades, losing an eye in process, what she said, “amongst all what I’ve seen, Syria is the worst”, should be taken into consideration. She also said that by now she should be hardened but what she sees is sickening her and that she doesn’t understand how the world can stand idly by regarding what’s going on in Syria.
In addition to the moral obligation that the rest of the world has to immediately physically interfere to stop the butchery, there is another equally compelling reason for the immediacy of this intervention.
The longer the regime is allowed to continue its indulgence in butchery and the longer the Syrian dish is marinated in blood the more it will eventually taste of Salafiism (radical Islam). That is because the longer the blood bath drags on, the further Syrian society will be polarized and the more the voices calling for a democratic, pluralistic and civil state will be drowned in the cacophony of the calls for sectarian vengeance and retribution. The voice of Ayman Al Zawahiri calling for active support to overthrow the regime in Syria should not be allowed to gain a foothold in the vanguard of the popular rebellion against a regime that continues to loose any infinitesimal credibility that it might still have the semblance of having. If those calls calling for freedom are left to be suffocated, what will be left over is a very fertile ground for the growth of Salafist creeds.
How long before we do something to help these people. This delay is getting ridiculous and while I have always been a supporter of Obama despite the critics, I am starting to feel very differently. There needs to be strong leadership and direction. Words do nothing.