Responding to Chemical Carnage
"They're trying to get the outline of a coalition. You have to make sure everything is well co-ordinated from the top down. Bringing the CDS over is tremendously powerful symbolism for any military and diplomatic encounters. It's a symbol we're serious about this."
Walter Dorn, Royal Military College of Canada
Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff Gen.Tom Lawson met with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in Jordan, along with military leaders representing eight other nations. It was a three-day meeting involving top generals from the United States, Canada, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. Thus far, only Germany and Italy have expressed reservations about military strikes in Syria.
The United States and 188 other nations of the world are joint signatories to a chemical weapons convention that opposes the use of such weapons of mass destruction. Because they are in a position of being outlawed for use by most civil countries of the world, their blatant use represents a violation of what is considered to be norms in the use of conventional weapons. A fine distinction that could very well be lost on those slaughtered by any conventional military.
The simple fact being that through the use of conventional military weaponry, rockets, artillery, the regime's military has engaged in mass slaughter in the deaths of countless of its civilians, men, women, the elderly, children. Over a hundred thousand people is the figure put out by the United Nations. Thousands of more wounded. Millions homeless, as internal or external refugees. With those numbers those who died through the use of poisonous gases represent a relatively small figure.
It is the grotesquely gruesome spectacle of people dying painfully when their nervous system has been deranged through the effects of a deadly gas with horrifying effect. Violent death through any mode of delivery is horrifying, but the spectacle of vulnerable young children suddenly suffocated in their sleep, of children suffering the dreadful effects of sarin, or people helpless in the miserable throes of approaching death that strikes us so powerfully.
When conventions have been universally accepted and signed, even though Syria was never a signatory to this one, the offence against humanity represented by the use of such lethal chemicals on innocent people, and most particularly helpless children, is enraging. "The Prime Minister made it clear that he shares the view that the recent chemical weapons attack was carried out by the Syrian regime and described the use of these weapons as an outrage", went a statement by Prime Minister Harper's office.
The Canadian Prime Minister and the American president have instructed their officials to "remain closely in touch in the days ahead". Russian Ambassador to Canada, Georgiy Mamedov, at a luncheon in Ottawa to discuss the G20 summit to take place in St.Petersburg next week, unburdened himself of his country's position on the matter.
"Stay out of any military adventure and help two sides to get together at the conference table." And how would Russia respond if the West does proceed to intervene militarily? "The regular way. We will say that it's a terrible mistake, like we did during Iraq." And there's an intriguing and ironic turnabout in how we generally view such matters.
The Western, democratic, liberal and war-avoiding countries are set to launch air strikes from offshore against Syrian military targets to deliver a message of punishment for having ignored pleas to make an end to the war against its civilian population. And the two countries whose evident disregard for the niceties of human rights and who have committed war crimes against their neighbours now caution against military means in Syria.
According to NBC News, missile strikes could be launched "as early as Thursday", against Syria. The United States is contemplating "three days" of strikes limited in scope whose purpose is to deliver a strong message, rather than concentrate and plan to weaken the regime's military capabilities. It is in the national security interest of the U.S. to ensure the use of chemical weapons "not go unanswered".
And so, it appears, it will not.
Labels: Atrocities, Britain, Canada, Chemical Weapons, Conflict, Defence, France, Russia, Syria, United States
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, August 29, 2013
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