We were young. We went to school on Sept. 11 thinking it’d be another day of recess, multiplication tables and art class. Instead, we watched teachers whisper to one another, we watched our classmates disappear as their parents took them out of school and then, in dimly lit classrooms, already in mourning, we watched the news.
The events that transpired after, the call for action against those who attacked us, brought us years of embittered battles overseas and tears at home.
And now, still raw from the wars before us, Americans have decried President Obama’s plan for a military strike against Syria, to punish President Bashar Al-Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons. The link between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and today’s Syrian crisis has already been drawn; many have considered the potential military intervention reminiscent of that in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last night, President Obama took the stage to address the national audience and attempted to persuade Americans to stand firm behind him. He targeted our emotions, reminding us of the hundreds of children who were killed. His voice hardly waved in assertion. But we remain unconvinced.
He gave us answers that we knew or heard before. Diplomacy? We’re trying. Why? Common humanity. Let’s just take out Assad? No can do. Obama claims that retaliation from Assad will not happen. But how can we know? How can we know that our defenses will not fail, as Obama implied? Other issues are more unclear. The “limited strike” will be targeted and will not injure more people than necessary, he said. But how?
Too many questions, too many non-answers. It’ll take more than a 15-minute speech to convince us. And, because this editorial is was written just hours before the twelfth anniversary of 9/11, we remember how America was “steamrolled” into a war – as said by former Secretary of State Colin Powell in a recent interview.
The one thing we can applaud Obama for is his decision to postpone congressional vote on the military strike. This matter cannot be rushed.
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