{"id":17452,"date":"2013-01-17T08:20:31","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T13:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=17452"},"modified":"2013-01-17T08:20:31","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T13:20:31","slug":"hof-doran-and-shaikh-argue-for-greater-us-role-in-guiding-syrian-opposition-and-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/hof-doran-and-shaikh-argue-for-greater-us-role-in-guiding-syrian-opposition-and-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Hof, Doran, and Shaikh argue for greater US role in guiding Syrian opposition and transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syria: Is It Too Late?<\/a>
\nFrederic C. Hof | January 14, 2013<\/p>\n

Syria is dying. Bashar al-Assad has made it clear that the price of his removal is the death of the nation. A growing extremist minority in the armed opposition has made it clear that a Syria of citizenship and civil society is, in its view, an abomination to be killed. And those in the middle long begging for Western security assistance are increasingly bemoaning that it is already too late. Between the cold, cynical sectarianism of Assad and the white-hot sectarian hatred of those extremists among his opponents Syria already is all but gone, a body politic as numbingly cold and colorless as the harsh wintry hell bringing misery and hopelessness to untold numbers of displaced Syrians…..<\/p>\n

And yet, what if the arm’s length approach to the armed Syrian opposition is precisely the wrong medicine for a patient at or near death’s door? What if an approach seen by its advocates as the very epitome of prudence is in fact the opposite? What if the United States can help shape a decent, civilized outcome in Syria by providing security assistance to select opposition elements, and do so with no US boots on the ground? What if it can help in the context of lethality but consciously elects not to?….<\/p>\n

In a recent article, I urged the Syrian Opposition Council and Supreme Military Council to cooperate in forming a provisional government, one offering an alternative to the regime by standing up for Syria’s minorities and for democratic, civil society based on the supremacy of citizenship. A person prominent in Syrian opposition affairs wrote soon thereafter to say that the appetite for a provisional government was being dampened by the fear of insufficient material support from the West, a deficit that would cause its rapid failure and permanent loss of credibility, all for the benefit of Assad. To be sure there are many ways to articulate the “it’s too late” mantra. What they all have in common is the view that American actions will never match American words.<\/p>\n

In truth the American taxpayer has hardly been AWOL from Syria’s struggle, as the United States leads the world in providing humanitarian assistance to desperately needy Syrians….Syria’s fate will likely be decided by men with guns. If a firm, irrevocable decision is in place that the United States will not play in this arena, then it may indeed be too late for Syria as the Assad\/al-Qaeda tag team crowds out all other opponents from the ring, making Syria ungovernable, 22.5 million Syrians vulnerable, and neighboring states fully exposed to a catastrophe that could persist for decades.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brookings: The Road Beyond Damascus<\/a>
\n2013-01-17<\/p>\n

If the United States does not take on a more active leadership role in Syria, the country will become a failed state, a second Somalia in the heartland of the Middle East. Michael Doran and Salman Shaikh drafted this memorandum to President Obama as …<\/p>\n