Opinion

OP-ED: Isolate – Don’t Bomb – Syria

Published

12 years ago

September 10, 2013

President Obama spoke to the nation Tuesday night on Syria hoping to stem opposition that is rising both at home and abroad. Polls show the broad majority of Americans oppose getting further involved in Syria.

Despite his best efforts, the president could not persuade even a majority of the G-20 nations — the largest economies in the world — to declare support for a strike on Syria.

In Congress, the Senate seems split, but in the House the number of representatives expressing their opposition or doubts about striking Syria far exceeds those indicating support.

Americans are weary of war, still waiting for American troops to come home from Afghanistan, now one of the longest wars in U.S. history. I applaud the president for respecting the Constitution and taking the issue to the Congress.

Pundits say that rejection by that body would damage his credibility. But it would accurately reflect deep American skepticism about continued military intrusion into the civil and sectarian conflicts of that region.

The largest concern should be a question of conscience. The administration’s call to intervene is described as an act of humanity, championed by those who are called “humanitarian interventionists.”

They cite a “duty to protect” and emphasize the importance of enforcing the international ban on chemical weapons. The strike, the president says, is “a shot across the bow,” not designed to dislodge the regime or change the course of the brutal civil war in that nation.

But firing cruise missiles also raises questions of conscience. Dr. Martin Luther King broke with Lyndon Johnson over the war in Vietnam, in part because he believed that violence would only beget more violence.

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth would leave us all blind and toothless. The cruise missiles will surely strike some who had nothing to do with the chemical attacks.

The president would be wiser to detail his evidence to the international community, mobilize a global condemnation of the act, and define a course of further isolating the Syrian regime, turning those who ordered the use of chemical weapons into international pariahs.

Killing more innocent people in an arbitrary punitive act settles nothing, while adding to the violence. More than 2 million people, including 1 million children, have already fled the country. Millions more have been displaced internally. Adding to the violence will only add to this shame.

The administration is now engaged in a full-court press diplomatically to gain support for its strike. Surely, it would be both more effective and more productive to use that energy to engage nations — from Russia to China, Saudi Arabia, even Iran — to press Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control.

The second concern is one of cost. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel argues that even a limited military strike against Syria would cost tens of millions of dollars. But the cost surely will be much higher, while the U.S. is cutting children out of Head Start and depriving disabled seniors of hot meals.

The costs of the unintended consequences are likely to be greater. But the real cost may well be in the distraction from our challenges here at home.

We have over 20 million people in need of full-time work. The economy is limping; Europe is barely inching out of recession..

The congressional debate — in light of the fact that Congress has only has nine days in session to pass a budget to keep the government open next month — should be devoted to the jobs program we need, while passing a budget and lifting the debt ceiling to pay our debts. Instead, this next week at least will be Syria 24/7.

The third concern is one of credibility. The pundits say the president’s credibility and the credibility of this nation are on the line.. But the real credibility gap precedes this president.

The credibility of American intelligence was shattered in the distortions and lies used to sell our intervention in Iraq. That credibility gap grew wider with the revelations that the NSA was collecting data on Americans and allies in ways its leaders had denied in congressional testimony.

Across the world, citizens and leaders are skeptical about American claims.

That a loathsome use of chemical weapons murdered thousands of people in Syria seems clear. But finding evidence that Syrian President Assad ordered the strike is, according to AP intelligence sources, “no slam dunk.”

It is time to challenge the cycle of violence and escalation in the Middle East. Legislators will surely be held accountable for the choice they make.

Email: jjackson@rainbowpush.org

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Oakland Post Endorses Barbara Lee

Barbara Lee will be able to unify the city around Oakland’s critical budget and financial issues, since she will walk into the mayor’s office with the support of a super majority of seven city council members — enabling her to achieve much-needed consensus on moving Oakland into a successful future.

Published

2 days ago

April 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Courtesy photo, Office of Rep. Barbara Lee.

Former Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Courtesy photo.

As we end the celebration of Women’s History Month in Oakland, we endorse Barbara Lee, a woman of demonstrated historical significance. In our opinion, she has the best chance of uniting the city and achieving our needs for affordable housing, public safety, and fiscal accountability.

As a former small business owner, Barbara Lee understands how to apply tools needed to revitalize Oakland’s downtown, uptown, and neighborhood businesses.

It is notable that many of those who fought politically on both sides of the recent recall election battles have now laid down their weapons and become brothers and sisters in support of Barbara Lee. The Oakland Post is pleased to join them.

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Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025

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6 days ago

March 28, 2025

Oakland Post

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We Fought on Opposite Sides of the Sheng Thao Recall. Here’s Why We’re Uniting Behind Barbara Lee for Oakland Mayor

Today, we are coming together to do all we can to make sure Barbara Lee is elected Mayor in the April 15 Oakland special election. Here’s why. Now more than ever, Oakland needs a respected, hands-on leader who will unite residents behind a clear vision for change. The next mayor will have to hit the ground running with leaders and stakeholders across our political divide to get to work solving the problems standing in the way of Oakland’s progress. Job No. 1: improving public safety. Everyone agrees that all Oaklanders deserve to feel safe in their neighborhoods. But sadly, too many of us do not.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 24, 2025

Oakland Post

Robert Harris (left) is a retired attorney at PG&E and former legal counsel for NAACP. Richard Fuentes is co-owner of FLUID510 and chair of the Political Action Committee, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57. Courtesy photos.

By Robert Harris and Richard Fuentes
Special to The Post

The City of Oakland is facing a number of urgent challenges, from housing and public safety to a pressing need for jobs and economic development. One of us, Robert Harris, supported the November recall vote that removed Mayor Sheng Thao from office. Meanwhile, Richard Fuentes believed the recall was the wrong strategy to tackle Oakland’s challenges.

Today, we are coming together to do all we can to make sure Barbara Lee is elected Mayor in the April 15 Oakland special election. Here’s why.

Now more than ever, Oakland needs a respected, hands-on leader who will unite residents behind a clear vision for change.

The next mayor will have to hit the ground running with leaders and stakeholders across our political divide to get to work solving the problems standing in the way of Oakland’s progress.

Job No. 1: improving public safety. Everyone agrees that all Oaklanders deserve to feel safe in their neighborhoods. But sadly, too many of us do not.

During her three decades in the state Legislature and Congress, Lee made public safety a priority, securing funding for police and firefighters in Oakland, delivering $15.8 million in community safety funding, and more. Today, she has a plan for making Oakland safer. It starts with making sure police are resourced, ready, and on patrol to stop the most dangerous criminals on our streets.

Oakland residents and business owners are feeling the impact of too many assaults, smash/grabs, retail thefts, and home robberies. Lee will increase the number of police on the streets, make sure they are focused on the biggest threats, and invest in violence prevention and proven alternatives that prevent crime and violence in the first place.

In addition, on day one, Barbara Lee will focus on Oakland’s business community, creating an advisory cabinet of business owners and pushing to ensure Oakland can attract and keep businesses of all sizes.

The other top issue facing Oakland is housing and homelessness. As of May 2024, over 5,500 people were unhoused in the city. Oaklanders are just 25% of the population of Alameda County, but the city has 57% of the unhoused population.

Unhoused people include seniors, veterans, single women, women with children, people who suffer physical and mental illness, unemployed and undereducated people, and individuals addicted to drugs. Some are students under 18 living on the streets without their parents or a guardian. Research shows that 53% of Oakland’s homeless population is Black.

Starting on her first day in office, Lee will use her national profile and experience to bring new resources to the city to reduce homelessness and expand affordable housing. And she will forge new public/private partnerships and collaboration between the City, Alameda County, other public agencies, and local nonprofits to ensure that Oakland gets its fair share of resources for everything from supportive services to affordable housing.

Besides a public safety and housing crisis, Oakland has a reputational crisis at hand. Too many people locally and nationally believe Oakland does not have the ability to tackle its problems.

Lee has the national reputation and the relationships she can use to assert a new narrative about our beloved Oakland – a vibrant, diverse, and culturally rich city with a deep history of activism and innovation.

Everyone remembers how Lee stood up for Oakland values as the only member of Congress not to authorize the disastrous Iraq War in 2001. She has led the fight in Congress for ethics reform and changes to the nation’s pay-to-play campaign finance laws.

Lee stands alone among the candidates for mayor as a longtime champion of honest, transparent, and accountable government—and she has the reputation and the skills to lead an Oakland transformation that puts people first.

The past few years have been a trying period for our hometown.

Robert Harris supported the recall because of Thao’s decision to fire LeRonne Armstrong; her refusal to meet with certain organizations, such as the Oakland Branch of the NAACP; and the city missing the deadline for filing for a state grant to deal with serious retail thefts in Oakland.

Richard Fuentes opposed the recall, believing that Oakland was making progress in reducing crime. The voters have had their say; now, it is time for us to move forward together and turn the page to a new era.

The two of us don’t agree on everything, but we agree on this: the next few years will be safer, stronger, and more prosperous if Oaklanders elect Barbara Lee as our next mayor on April 15.

Robert Harris is a retired attorney at PG&E and former legal counsel for NAACP.

Richard Fuentes is co-owner of FLUID510 and chair of the Political Action Committee, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57.