Western intervention is warranted this time

Editor,

As the people of Syria continue to write history with their blood, the Western leaders stand by, playing their violins as Syria burns. The Western leaders are saying all the right things, but there are no actions backing up all the rhetoric. So, if military action against Syria by way of the U.N. is being blocked by China and Russia, then why not form an international coalition to topple that murderous dog Bashar al-Assad?

Speaking to NBC news, President Obama said, “We have been relentless in sending a message that it is time for Assad to go.” He added: “This is not going to be a matter of ‘if’, it is going to be a matter of ‘when’.”

While this all sounds good, it does not mean much, so long as the bombs are not falling on the forces of Bashar al-Assad. If a man only speaks the language of violence, then talk is not going to get him very far, is it?

Some of my enemies might want to take this opportunity to say that I am hypocrite for desiring Western intervention in a Muslim country. The first thing I would say to the people who say this is: “I don’t learn Islam from infidels.” And the second thing I would say is that there is a precedence for this in Islamic history.

One of the early Muslim rulers was a man named Umar. When Umar was fighting against the fire-worshipers of Persia, his forces were outnumbered 12 to one. Umar hired mercenaries from the Christian Arabs in order to dispatch the fire-worshipers of Persia. Umar’s tactic paid off and the Persian empire was laid to waste by the temporary Muslim-Christian alliance.

So, based on the above mentioned history, we can draw the following principle: “When the circumstances call for it, the Muslim armies can solicit the help of infidels to dispatch infidels.”

The Free Syria Army, which is waging guerrilla warfare against the government of Bashar al-Assad, is badly outnumbered at the moment — in a way that is comparable to the armies of Umar against the Persians. The president of Syria is not Muslim, but an infidel Shi’ite. God willing, the leaders of the West will make their move soon in order to help the Muslim army to topple the infidel Bashar al-Assad.

Muhajir Romero
UNM student