Questioning military action
Re: All-party insanity on Syria, May 9.
Terry Glavin’s column did an excellent job of bringing into focus the confused dithering of the NATO countries in the face of the Syrian situation. However it also raised, at least in my mind, the question of what sort of military action could be attempted if and when it was decided to put major military troops and machinery into the field.
It would be very interesting to hear the views of experienced soldiers — such as Major-General (retired) Lewis MacKenzie — who have had to deal with the problems associated with intervention in civil war. I suspect that the percentage of Canadians who can place Syria on the map is rather low, and the percentage who can identify all the different warring parties and their relationships is even lower.
Before initiating any military action it is clearly wise to have a welldefined objective and a reasonable chance of being able to know when that objective has been achieved. This is where things become very complex and difficult.
When we come to list possible objectives, the top objective is clearly “to end the present continuing bloodshed.” The second objective could be “to provide safe and sanitary accommodation for those escaping from the warfare.” The achievement of these objectives alone would be an immense task, but what should we do next?
It is hard to imagine that the present fighting can end as long as the existing Syrian government remains in power. So on the assumption that by some means it has been forced out, we are faced with whole mob of mutually distrustful, and often mutually hostile groups from which we hope can be assembled some form of government that preferably is not hostile to our western interests, particularly the existence of Israel.
So if and when we come to decide to enter this chaotic arena, and despite our overwhelming array of high-tech armaments, it’s no easy matter to decide when, where, and how to go about it. So let us hear a little less about our political ineptitude in facing this nightmare and a lot more about how we could actually do anything.
LIONEL STRANGE,
Manotick