NO MORE MEDDLING IN MUSLIM MUDDLES

The United States should take no action in Syria.  There are three reasons for this: Islam, our history with the Arab world, and the fact that such action would play into Russian plans.

All religions, even the most supposedly pacific, are by their very nature antagonistic to anyone not holding the same beliefs.  They all will publicly preach peace and brotherhood, but in each sacred text are instructions for conversion and elimination of non-believers.  Religion has been the reason, or the excuse, for many wars and purges over the millennia.  From the treatment of Christians in early Rome, through the Crusades, the decades-old conflict in Northern Ireland, the struggles between Buddhists and Hindus in the East, and the centuries-old fighting between Muslims and Christians in the Balkans, humans have been at each other’s throats over religious beliefs.  So any interference by the United States in affairs among Muslims will be viewed through the suspicious prism of Islam, since any Muslim views us with equal repugnance as either militantly pro-Jewish or decadently secular.

Have we learned nothing from our history?  We supplied aid to resistance fighters in Afghanistan to spite the Soviets, and created Al-Qaida.  We propped up the dictator Saddam Hussein because he fought the Iranians for us, then had to chase him out of Kuwait when Iraq invaded that country.  And the Kuwaitis repaid the favor by voting against our interest in OPEC and the United Nations.  Then we toppled the Taliban, only to have it replaced with an unfriendly Karzai.  Earlier we propped up the Shah of Iran and earned Iranian enmity which boiled over in the 444-day hostage crisis and led to the election of Ahmadinejad.  The Arab world is not our friend.  They will take our money and assistance when it pleases them, and we gain nothing for it.

Putin is slowly returning Russia to a cold-war stance, using fear of super-power US to gain political advantage at home.  He is baiting us by openly supplying arms and assistance to the Assad regime, trying to draw us into yet another unpopular and cash-draining war, hoping thereby to weaken us internally both politically and financially.  He is trying to raise Russia’s standing in the G-8 and G-20, and hopes to isolate the US for an unsanctioned and unilateral aggressive action.
 
Syria (and Egypt) are problems for the Arab world to solve.  Let the Arab League deal with them.  We will gain nothing for our involvement and will lose American lives, money and prestige in the bargain.  Stay out of Syria!