Parks Place

As is the case with perhaps all presidents, President Barack Obama can point to a number of times when he has been measured and thoughtful in his tenure.  No matter what we think about the president politically or personally, I think we can all agree that he has had moments where he has acted prudently.  The Affordable Care Act.  The auto industry bailout.  The move to capture Osama Bin Laden.
But, I have never seen the president act more prudently than he did last week.  Last week, the president stood on the White House lawn, flanked by his senior defense and intelligence staff, and told the American public that he wanted to order a limited, focused air strike against the current Syrian government, but was going to first seek Congressional approval.  This is excellent news.
Why is it excellent news?  First, it allows us time to sharpen our understanding of what is happening in Syria.  In 2011, several school-aged children were arrested and tortured for writing anti-government graffiti on a wall.
After the arrests, people organized peaceful protests calling for the release of the children, greater freedoms, and democracy within Syria.
The Syrian government responded violently to the protests ordering the Syrian army to open fire on the protesters.  The Syrian army killed several protesters. The outrage over the Syrian government’s crackdown has spread throughout the country creating widespread civil unrest.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to make some concessions to the protesters, but the changes were not substantial enough to pacify the protesters.  The protesters have repeatedly called on Assad to step down.
There have been numerous reports that the Syrian army has used chemical weapons against the protesters, all of which the Syrian government has denied. The most recent report was in August of this year, prompting President Obama to consider military action against Syria.
Why should we care about all of this?  The costs of military action are great. Not just the projected billions of dollars it will cost this country to defend its military action against Iran, China and Russia — Syrian allies — or the fluctuations of our financial markets further instability in Syria would create.  Surely, the funds this country would spend defending its decision for military action would have an impact on the funding of programs within our education and health care systems.
But, we should care because we have just finished fighting wars on two fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The war in Iraq was was initiated on a premise very similar to the one we are hearing now — we heard that evidence existed that Iraq was stockpiling chemical weapons of mass destruction.  We have yet to see that evidence.
The use of chemical weapons by any government against its people is morally objectionable and violates international laws and standards.  However, before our country moves to take military action against Syria, we should have plenty of discussion, meditation, and sufficient proof of the violations.
The president was right to call for congressional approval.   It gives us all time to discuss Syria.