Why I support a free Syria

Every day 200 or more people, mostly women and children, are being butchered inside Syria.  So far at least 37,000 people, mostly civilians, have been slaughtered. In the face of this slaughter, the international community has remained silent as a ghost.  Obama has made it clear that he will do nothing to help Syria free itself from Assad’s tyranny.  Syrians know by now that the West has abandoned them and does not care about them.  I continue to support Western military aid to the Free Syrian Army along with bombing Assad’s thugs from the air but know it is not going to happen.

But despite Obama’s indifference toward the cause of freedom in Syria, the tide appears to be turning against the forces of evil in Syria.  I believe that the Assad regime, being built on a foundation of terror and tyranny, cannot last forever.   The Sunni majority has clearly demonstrated their rejection of Assad’s cruelty.  And even some brave members of the Alawite minority are risking their lives to remove Assad from power.

I am concerned about the possibility that radical Islam could replace Assad if and when the regime falls.  But I believe the Assad regime is so pathologically evil that the fear of a radical Islamist takeover should not impede Western analysts from supporting the cause of freedom in Syria.  I also think that Syrian democrats need time to organize themselves because all forms of political expression have been forcibly suppressed in Syria for over 40 years.  Instead of blaming the opposition for its disarray, the West should understand that a democracy cannot be created overnight.  The West should also be supporting the Syrian opposition as it struggles to develop a consensus for a post-Assad Syria.

I think that given the right conditions in a post-Assad Syria, the democratic forces in Syria have a viable chance to build a new Syria.  I can envision a new Syria with political freedom, with respect for religious minorities such as the Alawites and the Christians and ethnic minorities such as the Kurds.  I think the Syrian people deserve the chance to freely determine their own future, to live without tyranny and oppression, and to raise their families in a spirit of freedom and economic opportunity.