Should the West intervene militarily in Syria?

Authors Avatar by heskey131 (student)

‘The west should intervene militarily in the conflict in Syria in response to the use of chemical weapons’ How far do you agree with this statement?

There have been several arguments and questions regarding this statement and I am personally against the idea of intervention from the West, militarily. I believe that because people are killed all the time, it is insane to think that sending in foreign military is the answer to the question, as neither Britain nor USA are the world’s police force. If President Assad didn't want the west getting involved he would have avoided chemical weapons to begin with, so assuming that he has used them, surely he is already prepared to take a few tomahawk missiles and therefore we have no ability to deter? Throwing in another hypothetical, maybe he wants the west to have a direct but limited involvement. Therefore, the support he receives from Russia may enhance with masses of new weaponry following suit. These are but a few of the many reasons that I shall cover in this essay in putting forward my argument in the hope that the cons of military involvement can be seen to outweigh the pros.

There are a number of reasons as to why I am against military intervention from the west. I disagree with the statement at hand, firstly because I find it ludicrous that the metaphorical ‘red line’ has been drawn so late. President Obama claims that the use of chemical weapons is the ‘line not to be crossed’ and I find this ridiculous for the reason that if this ‘red line’ had been drawn previously, then there is very strong possibility that chemical weapons would not have been used at all. I feel very strongly that this whole situation could have been avoided, had the ‘boundary’ been placed earlier, preferably after the 100,000 deaths caused without chemical weapons which were, in essence, ignored. Another reason why I disagree with this statement is because the USA would be intervening without UN authorisation which, despite being perfectly possible, would result in possible disbanding of the UN. There have been cases in the past, such as the League of Nations, where one country has committed an act without approval from the committee and this has resulted in huge problems, conflicts and destruction of the organisation involved. 

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Additionally, military intervention risks making an already bad situation, worse. Matters are already very delicate with the lives of many at stake and all the talk of attacking Syria might tip-off Assad, resulting in him attacking back, therefore putting more lives on the line. This links in with the fact that a military attack could ultimately result in another war, just like the events in Afghanistan which was a similar situation in which Britain was supposed to carry through a quick operation but got dragged in to extended conflict. Is it worth putting the lives of troops and innocent civilians ...

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