Syria

If you’ve been alive and you didn’t just crawl out of a hole in the middle of nowhere, you’ve probably heard something about Syria recently. I’ve talked to quite a few people about Syria and nobody really seems to know what’s going on, other than the fact that people are dying and something about chemical weapons. Well, I’m here to give you a short synopsis, and a reason why Obama should knock off the rhetoric and leave Syria alone.

What is Syria? Syria is a country located in what most people would refer to as the “middle-east”. Syria shares a border with Iraq, to its South West, Jordan to its South East, Lebanon to its West, and Turkey to its North. Syria is about the size of Washington State, with a population of 20.8 million people, who are predominantly Arab and who are religiously Sunni Muslim.

Who’s fighting in Syria? Well, protests against Bashar Al-Asaad’s regime began in 2011. Asaad has been the president of Syria since 2000. Once the protests started, the government began to quietly make rebels “disappear”, and it quickly escalated to openly shooting on protesters. Then the protesters started shooting back. There really aren’t two sides. Sure, there are organized rebel groups, but there isn’t some sort of top rebel leader who the government could meet with to sign a treaty, even if either side wanted to.

So, you’ve got a bunch of little rebel groups all fighting against the government for one reason or another. Asaad is basically a dictator. So, if the protests began in 2011, why do we want to intervene now? Well, Obama says it’s because Asaad used chemical weapons against rebels in Syria. First of all, we don’t know if chemical weapons were used. There’s an indication, but no absolutely proof. Second, if chemical weapons were used, we don’t know by whom. Asaad is a likely suspect, but we don’t know for sure if it was him or not. All we know is what our own government is telling us, and it’s not like they’ve ever lied to us? Right?

*Benghazi* * NSA Wire Taps* Oh, and that’s only within the last year.

Also, Asaad has killed quite a few people before this alleged chemical weapons attack. How many? Statistics differ, but according to The Human Rights Data Analysis Group, there were 92,901 documented deaths between March 2011 and April 2013. Documented. So that’s the minimum number, and most likely, quite a few more people have died. How many people died in this alleged chemical weapons attack? Less than 1,500.

So, why do we suddenly care about Syria? I’ve got 2 theories. First, it’s because there are “rules” to war in this modern age, and killing people with bullets is a lot different than killing them with chemical or nuclear or biological weapons. Sure, bullets probably hurt more than falling asleep and never waking up, which is what happened in Syria, but hey! Chemical weapons are bad! This is most likely very similar to the arguments you’ll hear from liberals, progressives and Democrats. I don’t buy it. If we didn’t care back in 2011, or 2012, or March 2013, why do we care now? Chemical weapons? I don’t think so.

Here’s the theory that I buy. What’s been happening in the US lately? Well, that NSA wiretap thing is kind of a big deal. You know, the government spying on us, violating our Constitutional rights. Those rights are kind of important. VERY IMPORTANT. I think that this whole Syria thing is just to get us to look in the other direction. You know, forget about the NSA, they were bad, they feel bad, they’re sorry (that they got caught), so here’s what we’ll --- HEY GUYS LOOK! SYRIA!!! By the way, does anyone even remember Benghazi? 9/11/12? No? Yeah, that means the government won. Same thing is happening here. They want us to all forget about the NSA and IRS scandals, and launch some cruise missiles into Syria.

Guess what? The media is going right along with the Obama administration on this too. You guys hear much about the NSA in the news anymore? I haven’t. Not in the mainstream media anyway. What do you hear about? Syria. Oh, and Miley Cyrus. Miley Cyrus was also DEFINITELY a government distraction. There’s just no other explanation for that.

Oh, and also, Russia and China have also told us to back off. Syria is one of Russia’s last allies, and Russia has its only remaining naval base outside of the former Soviet Union in Syria. Also, Russia sells guns to Syria, and Russia likes making money. Russia also doesn’t like it when other countries (America) put themselves in the middle of other countries’ problems. America buys guns and ammunition from Russia. There were ships with said guns and ammo heading to the US from Russia. Russia turned those ships around, mid-Atlantic, and sent them to the middle-east as a symbolic “BACK OFF” to the US.

I’ll end with this: Obama is an idiot. 91% of Americans don’t want to get involved in Syria. What does Obama want to do? Get involved in Syria. He hasn’t made a case; he hasn’t given us a good reason other than “OH LOOK THEY USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS (maybe)”. We elected him, he isn’t a dictator. As an elected official, he’s supposed to do what his constituents want. The vast majority of his constituents want him to leave Syria alone. No other country in the world wants us there, and Obama has his finger hovering over the “Launch cruise missiles into Syria” button, just itching to press it. By the way, the NSA is still wiretapping your stuff.