Last week the United States instructed troops stationed in Iraq to raid a Syrian village in an attempt to kill or capture a high-ranking Al Qaeda official. Eight Syrian civilians were killed. Syria is on the borders of both Iraq and Israel. Needless to say, it is a very volatile place. Yet, Washington hasn’t confirmed the attack, while U.S. officials say the target was a top al-Qaeda figure in Iraq.
Like a good neighbor, the U.S. military is there… to raid you
Last week the United States instructed troops stationed in Iraq to raid a Syrian village in an attempt to kill or capture a high-ranking Al Qaeda official. Eight Syrian civilians were killed. Syria is on the borders of both Iraq and Israel. Needless to say, it is a very volatile place. Yet, Washington hasn’t confirmed the attack, while U.S. officials say the target was a top al-Qaeda figure in Iraq.
What I find appalling about this incident is that Washington has yet to recognize the attacks. Syria’s prime minister, Muhammad Naji al-Utri, has already shut down an American school and cultural center in Damascus, Syria. And he has threatened even more “painful” measures if Washington does not offer an explanation.
Under the condition of anonymity, because of the secrecy of the raid, U.S. officials, according to the New York Times, said “the Bush administration was determined to operate under an expansive definition of self-defense that provided a rationale for strikes on militant targets in sovereign nations without those countries’ consent.”
The raid happened on Oct. 26. We should be outraged Washington has taken over a week and still not recognized nor thoroughly explained the attack. I once listened to a comedian perform a sketch about why women should not be president. It went as follows:
“Hey America, this is France. Why are you bombing us?”
“Oh I think you know why,” click.
This piece of comedy is relevant to the situation because several countries have asked for an explanation and thus far Washington has given no response.
The government choosing not to answer questions about what actually happened causes the outrage I feel. You can’t just bomb a country and not tell them what’s going on. Why are American soldiers on the defensive to begin with?
President Bush exclaimed a couple of months ago, in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, that, “As sovereign states, we have an obligation to govern responsibly, and solve problems before they spill across borders,”
He continued, “We have an obligation to prevent our territory from being used as a sanctuary for terrorism and proliferation and human trafficking and organized crime.”
While Bush believes it may be his right to pursue terrorists across any border at any time, it is not wise to keep it from those countries that he chooses to go into. Not only does Syria not know what is happening, Iraq’s government doesn’t know what is going on either.
This makes it especially presumptuous when Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has already stated that Iraq must not be used to stage attacks for raiding other nations. Do we want a government that really cares this little about foreign relations, so much so that it is willing to simply ignore multiple countries and not explain itself?
As citizens in this country we should also demand an explanation. After all, it is our tax dollars that paid for it. If I am going to help finance a raid that cost eight Syrians their lives, I deserve an explanation. And so do you.
