By Briana Booker

Human rights violations are happening in Syria.  Many Americans are against  the U.S. Intervening in Syria. Do I believe the United States of America government should intervene in Syria with military action?

In my honest opinion, I believe intervention is necessary. I believe we cannot turn a blind eye as chemical warfare used on innocent people.

Who will protect these innocent people from their own government?

The Syrian government has the upper-hand and the citizens are helpless.

I know a U.S. military strike can cost millions of dollars. I know U.S. militants could die in the process of protecting Syrians.

I know there are no winners in war.

But my soul believes in doing something when injustice happens to the vulnerable.

With that said, I also know there are great risks that come with a Syria intervention.

Here are some of the risks:

• Any U.S. military strike against Syria could stack up the civilian casualties even more. This is why the U.S. government has to make a careful, wise decision.  The U.S. government must come up with a target list that truly will dismantle the corrupt Syrian government.
• Syria is having a civil war. If Assad feels the civilians are gaining an edge on his military strikes, he will increase the initiative to massacre more civilians so that he may break down his opposition.
• More chemical weapon usage. Anyone that believes Assad isn’t using chemical warfare is living in a fantasy world. People don’t foam from the mouth without cause.
• If the U.S. strikes are ineffective, Assad will appear stronger to his allies.  Remember, power is all about perception.
• Democracy as we know it doesn’t work too well in the Arab world. We cannot take strike on Syria with the goal to make it a mini America.  The U.S. has very little allies in the Arab world. We do not need anymore anti-American movements in the Arab world.
• The chemical weapons Assad is using on his own people can fall in the wrong hands after the regime collapses. When trouble comes, the chemical weapons will sell fast. There’s always the chance a more horrible villain will take Assad’s place.

With all the risks at hand, I still believe an intervention is necessary.

I believe the U.S. government needs to protect Syrians because  the United States is a world leader and we say we stand for human rights.

When we say we stand for something, we have to show we stand for protecting human rights. Otherwise, we down play our creditable as true leaders of human rights.

What’s happening in Syria is a genocide. It is a war crime, a crime against all humanity.

More than 100,000 Syrians have already died at the hands of their own government. 5 million Syrians are already displaced.

2 million Syrians are now refugees because of the atrocities the Syrian government has committed.

If this civil war continues to escalate Christians, Sunnis, Alawites and other groups in Syria could become victims of genocidal violence.

Yet we are okay with the international community ignoring  cries for help by Syrian civilians?

I am not okay with that.

When we allow injustice to happen, we volunteer ourselves to repeat history.

Do we save lives or do we say “not our problem,”?

Would we want the world to ignore our cries for help if our government violently attacked us?

I think not.

If you are not familiar with R2P, also known as the responsibility to protect,  you need to get familiar.

R2P allows the international community to protect civilians from governments that fail to protect civilians or willingly attack their civilians.

Under R2P, military action is  a last resort and the U.N. Security Council must approve of military action.

However many in the Arab World believe R2P actually helps regimes to harm their civilians by impeding the process for civilian protection.

But the high level of political involvement correlated with R2P can help subdue violence, from diplomatic efforts to outright military action.

In the case of Syria, I think diplomatic efforts are out of the question.  No conversation is going to stop Assad from slaughtering civilians.

Syria we  should have addressed two years ago with R2P when the Assad Regime shot protesters to death. Now, it’s out of control.  It is time to dismantle the Assad regime. I think it’s time for a military strike and not just from America. The international community needs to come together about this crisis.

What are your thoughts? Should we intervene or not? Why?