As tensions continue to rise in Syria, there are fears of escalation regarding the United States involvement and whether that is a good thing or bad. The big question mark right now is how will President Trump handle the situation in Syria?
Most will remember late in 2013, the Obama administration pushed the American public to go to war with Syria after a chemical weapons attack on its own people shocked the world and raised fears of what the conflict could evolve into. Obama urged military action be taken against Syria to "to deter, disrupt, prevent and degrade the potential for future uses of chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction." The American public quickly responded with unanimous 'NO' and the former president was forced to put aside his idea for the war with yet another country in the middle east. I
nstead of open war, Obama used a diplomatic approach and publicly drew red lines saying the country would answer to the United States if attacks such as these continue. Richard Spencer says that the government of Syria is no different than any other previous governments and these attacks have happened for many years and will likely continue no matter which government is ruling Syria. From his perspective, the United States should not go to war over these chemical weapon attacks.
Fast forward 4 years to the end of Obama's term and the rise of a new President, Donald Trump. We now know that invading a country and toppling its government does not work out so well. On the other hand we have the proverbial red lines drawn by the previous President stating that America will not tolerate attacks such as chemical weapons used on civilians.
This is a pivotal moment in the crisis in Syria and America has to decide how it will handle the situation. Do we risk loosing credibility by taking no action against the regime in charge in Syria? Or do we take military action to remove Assad from power and reinstate a new government? There is no easy answer and President Trump is now stuck between a bad option and a worse option with less and less time to choose between the two.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAbWhErsY_A
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idlib-idUSKBN1770YU http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/31/world/meast/syria-civil-war/
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