Murhaf Jouejati is an adjunct professor of political science and international affairs and a scholar at The Middle East Institute.
President Barack Obama’s recent decision to seek congressional authorization before taking military action against the Assad regime lies at the intersection of “the need to do something” about Syria and his personal reluctance to use force, especially at a time when the American people have no appetite for war.
With regard to the former, the need for the U.S. to enforce, and reinforce, the international ban on chemical weapons is imperative. U.S. inaction would otherwise send a message to Assad that he may continue killing his own people with impunity. Over and above that, U.S. inaction would make it appear to Iran and North Korea as though D.C. is not serious about confronting their efforts at nuclear proliferation.
Moreover, Obama’s decision to delay the strike has drastic implications, both positive and negative. On the upside, congressional approval strengthens his hand politically; on the downside, it comes across as a sign of U.S. presidential weakness, at least to the Middle East. Delaying the use of force against Assad also enables the latter to gain time, both to strengthen his defenses against the potential use of U.S. power and to crush the popular uprising against him.
Regarding to the decision to strike at Syria, D.C.’s strategy against Assad ought to include a campaign that seriously degrades his killing machine while the U.S. and other “friends of the Syrian people” simultaneously assist the vetted, moderate elements of the Free Syrian Army. If the end game is, as D.C. claims, a political solution to the war in Syria, a more decisive military campaign against Assad would be far more effective than the limited, pinprick operation Obama envisages.
Only then can there exist a balance of power between Assad and his domestic foes. And only then would the Assad regime desist from its security-minded approach to the Syrian conflict, and accept to negotiate in good faith with the rebels.
