http://bittman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/on-911-my-two-cents-on-syria/
The author, Mark Bittman, usually writes about food. He usually doesn’t write about topics such as this one. The article starts with him speaking about how he’s spent a lot of time trying to form an opinion on what’s been going on in Syria. Bittman goes on to say that on 9/11, we lost 3000 American lives. However, this is the number of people that Syria is losing every two weeks. Also, millions have left their homes. But, he says that he doesn’t understand why the United States must, “act as the world’s conscious and police force.” He explains there have been times where we intervened and actually were successful, and sometimes, not so much. He brings up a point about Canada. He asks whether or not the United States would intervene if there was a civil war in Canada and the government was torturing people like in Syria. Many will criticize the United States if they intervene and even if they don’t intervene. Bittman goes to his main point which is: we have enough problems in our own country and we don’t need to add on to it by going in to Syria. He states our government is constantly doing wrong in itself, how can they go and do “right” in the Middle East? Finally, he gets to the point that if the U.S were to really intervene, we would need congressional approval and a coalition. He states that the UN won’t meet the requirements to be “that coalition,” and if anything, maybe this can lead to a “NATO like alliance. However, how “successful,” this may be is still in question.
