4/07/2017

If We're Gonna Be the Cops, Then Let's Do Something About South Sudan

And here we go again, looking at an atrocity, the gassing of civilians in Syria by the government of Bashar al-Assad, wondering what the hell to do. President Donald Trump saw the photos of parents holding dead children, and, probably with a weeping Ivanka imploring Daddy to take action, he cast aside everything he had ever said about intervention in foreign conflicts, everything he had ever tweeted against President Obama attacking Syria in 2013, and went with his irrational gut to order dozens of missiles be hurled into an airfield that supposedly had more chemical weapons.

Speaking from his golden castle in Florida, the president, who had previously asserted that Syrian refugees, including drowned toddlers, were likely terrorists who should be "fighting to save Syria" and wanted to bar their entry to the United States, now proclaimed, "Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror." He ended his brief remarks with "we hope that as long as America stands for justice, then peace and harmony will, in the end, prevail."

It is worth noting that the hawks who now support Trump's actions against the Assad regime after a chemical weapons attack that killed around 70 civilians were completely opposed to any similar military response by President Obama after a chemical weapons attack that killed around 1000 people in 2013. It's also worth nothing that Trump made no pledge to take in more refugees.

But, hell, if we do stand for that Superman stuff, truth, justice, the American way, then maybe we should pay a little attention to another enormous humanitarian crisis and impending genocide in South Sudan. Yeah, there have been a bunch of massacres there, along with extensive famine and hundreds of thousands of refugees. In fact, a patch of land in Uganda is now the largest refugee camp in the world. And, like in Syria, the South Sudanese military is attacking the country's civilians.

If you get a war boner for bombing Syria, then you should be all over intervening in South Sudan. It's a three-year old civil war. It's a breeding ground for terrorist groups either in the country or in the neighborhood. And there are children who are being abused and slaughtered. In fact, 86% of the refugees are women and children. You may think it's unfair to compare the situations. But it's pretty clear that, in terms of the recent horrors, South Sudan beats Syria in just about every way.

C'mon, lefties and righties who are expressing their gratitude for Trump's actions. You wanna be the cops? Then let's be the damn cops. Step the fuck up or shut the fuck up.