April 6, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging caution by the U.S. before getting more involved in the civil war in Syria:
“There’s no authorization to use force against Syria and the Assad regime. This is an Article I question. Congress needs to debate that. And that debate must be based on the facts. Given the conflicting reports about whether it was sarin gas or chlorine used, it appears premature to determine what the next steps should be. Was this an attack by the Syrian military, or have terrorist groups like al Qaeda come into possession of chemical weapons? We need to know the answer to that before any decisions are made.
“Even if we do get clarity on the specifics of the attack in Idlib, the question remains whether spending our time, treasure and blood in Syria worth it? Is this in America’s interests? Does this put America first? That is the question every decision must be based on, the only premise on which we can act and no other. Taking military action as a first resort rarely turns out well. We’ve taken regime change in Iraq and again in Libya, turning both into active civil wars, and the jury’s still out in Afghanistan. May seem like a good idea, but we haven’t had much luck with it in the past decade. Regime change? To whom? Who would we be turning Syria over to? There’s little basis for civil society, religious freedom and stable parliamentary-style systems there. What comes next? For those who constantly clamor for war, the question is whether what’s left behind is better than what existed before, and the failure of regime change over the past two Administrations demands caution.”
Attachments:
“A rock and a hard place in Syria,” By Printus LeBlanc, April 6, 2017 at http://netrightdaily.com/2017/04/rock-hard-place-syria/
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