Santa 1

Dylan Santa

Ms. Gardner

English 10H/Per 6

5 May 2017

All We Need is Freedom

Since 2013, rebels leader in Syria have been asking other nations for help against the

Assad regime and the Islamic State. Firmly, after the chemical attack by the Syrian government

that killed thousands, Abu Adnan, chairman of the Coalition of Syrian Rebels requested Israel

and the United States help us stop the crimes and the massacres that Assad is carrying out

Look the Syrian people in the eye All we need is freedom (qtd. in Winer). Not only did they

receive virtually no help, but also their enemies, Assad and ISL, have grown stronger, with the

former now guaranteed by Russia. When scores of innocent, amicable citizens beseech powerful,

free nations to aid then against their tyrannical government, rather than when powerful, free

nations create a subjectively moral--or even monetary--rationale to invade a country, those

republics support becomes justified. Oppressed peoples often see Western states as bastions of

hope and liberty; however, when the West ignores cries of war-torn countries to instead intervene

elsewhere, the unanswered suffering corrupts Western ideals, easing the recruiting efforts of

radically polarized, terrorist groups from warring countries--a common occurrence in Syria.

While governments may wish to find a moral pathway to intervention, they should only

intervene if all diplomacy has failed, if the nation in question violently oppresses its people, and

if the nations people are ubiquitously requesting help.

Overwhelmingly, Westerners argue that countries, especially the United States, have a

moral obligation to intervene in international conflict, (particularly) when democratic ideals are
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at stake. Within the West, moral justification appears absolutely valid, principally to active and

former military personnel who understandably, having seen the horrors of war, would want to

stop it. Aaron MacLean, former Marine officer, recounts that, As a young marine officer, I was

taught that achieving decisive results in warfare is critical. It even rises to the level of moral

imperative. In addition to militarians, whose training has taught them that saving lives involves

swift, military action, those in the Muslim community may cite the Quran where, Muslims

were permitted to engage in defensive war after suffering oppression for a very long time

(Sekar), which translates to modernity, justifying a war against Assad, a man who has oppressed

his citizens--mostly Muslims--for years. The opposing side sees morality, which varies from

person to person, country to country, culture to culture, as valid justification for war; however,

actions in within civil wars that Americans perceive as unjust may to the Turks seem virtuous

may to the Russians seem necessary. Morality and immorality are subjective and indefinably

fluid. Only internal voices, the ones who deem their own situation as dire, can warrant external

force.

Admittedly, morals are involved when innocent pleas move men to tears. Nevertheless,

the avoidance of additional bloodshed using diplomacy is ideal, especially when the diplomacy is

between the parties within the country. For example, Czechoslovakia peacefully broke into two

states without any bloodshed because the main parties of the former nation peacefully and

multilaterally held a democratic referendum to split. Conversely, the militant extremism between

Yugoslavian belligerents during the Balkan crisis resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands

(The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica). Additionally, the Berlin Wall fell not because rebels

bombed it, but because German voices and American tact implored the German Democratic

Republic to tear down that wall (Dodds). If diplomacy worked in the past, it will work again
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now. Politicians must not forgo it in place of war. Diplomacy facilitates peace. Diplomacy

prevents displacement. Diplomacy saves lives. War does not. If peaceful negotiation and

compromise are possible, thus subverting the idea of violent intervention, then starting a conflict

can lead to nothing positive.

If, however, negotiations fail, forceful intervention is still not justifiable unless the

problematic country is undoubtedly oppressing its people, with oppression defined as,

prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority (Oxford Dictionaries

Contributors). Countries that would fulfill such a qualification include Syria. Sarah Leah

Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, summarizes Bashar al Assads decade in

power: Whether President al-Assad wanted to be a reformer but was hampered by an

entrenched old guard or has been just another Arab ruler unwilling to listen to criticism, the

outcome for Syria's people is the same: no freedom, no rights (qtd. in Human Rights Watch). In

Sudan, the situation is even more toxic, where not only speech is oppressed, but life as well. Jok

Madut Jok, undersecretary in South Sudan's Ministry of Culture and Heritage, reveals that

slavery, a practice most in the West assume went the way of the empires, persists and thrives in

conflict-engulfed Darfur (War and Slavery in Sudan). Oppression is often the mother of revolt

(i.e. the American and Algerian Revolutions). It worsens crises which, under a democratic

government, the people could peacefully resolve themselves. A lack of free speech leads to

violent acts to get it which spurs subsequent retaliation. Therefore, if external diplomacy has

failed to free a nations people, if a looming government is so dark that its people cannot see,

then a war is nearly justified. If diplomacy is still able to end oppression, however, oppression

alone shall not justify a war, but the combination of failed diplomacy, oppression, and the crying

out of the countrys people will.

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Ultimately, the culmination for just intervention comes when a countrys people plead for

assistance against their oppressive government when the people themselves are powerless

against it. As previously mentioned, the chairman of the Coalition of Syrian rebels himself, Abu

Adnan, on behalf of Syrian rebels, requested of the U.S. and Israel to, help us stop the crimes

and the massacres that Assad is carrying outAll we need is freedom (qtd. in Winer). They are

oppressed, diplomatic mission (and not so diplomatic missiles) have failed to stop it, and the

Syrians want help: if not from outside, they will turn to extremists in their own country.

Additionally, it is, the right of a country to defend itself against aggression is recognized by

both national and international laws. The United Nations Charter, Chapter VII, Article 51

guarantees this right" (Sekar), meaning that if a nation is attacked, even if by themselves, they

retaliate which implies requests for assistance. The fact that nations have the right to defend

themselves, which would include a populous against its government, allows the persecuted

majority to temporarily relinquish their sovereignty--freeing the invading country from blame--

simply because it is theirs to give away. As Juan Francisco Lobo, lawyer at the University of

Chile, recounts of the political philosopher Max Weber, the invaded country, takes into account

all the probabilities of real life, including the strengths and weaknesses of people, in order to take

full responsibility for the acts committed in the pursuance of a political goal." Therefore, a

country--or its people-- must ask another nation, accepting fully all successive actions, to help in

a conflict so that the assisting country may aid with full force.

Thus, assisting a foreign country against itself is only justified if firstly, diplomatic

attempts to resolve a potential or commenced conflict have exhaustively failed, if the

government of the country in question is oppressing its civilians, including the denial of free

speech, enslavement, and death, and if the people of the nation itself allow external action. The
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same war shall never be justified morally, for morals vary, causing strife within and without war-

torn countries. Strife leads hatred, hatred to conflict, and the entire process begins again.

Ultimately, the war in the first place should never be allowed to escalate. Governmental as well

as humanitarian diplomacy must resolve conflicts without bloodshed and instill positive images

of the helpers in the helpless.

Bibliography

Dodds, Lawrence. "Berlin Wall: How the Wall came down, as it happened 25 years ago."

Telegraph, 9 Nov. 2014,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/11219434/Berlin-Wall-How-the-Wall-came-down-as

it-happened-25-years-ago-live.html.

Francisco Lobo, Juan. "The Ethics of the Responsibility to Protect." SIRS Issues Researcher, 03

Sep, 2014, https://sks.sirs.com.

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MacLean, Aaron. "It's Time to End the Islamic State." Washington Post - Blogs, 03

Dec, 2015, pp. n/a, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Oxford Dictionaries Contributors. "oppression - definition of oppression in English." Oxford

Dictionaries | English, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/oppression.

Sekar, Radhika,et al. "Is Killing to Defend Your Country Justified?" Ottawa Citizen,

06 Nov, 2011, pp. B.4, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

"Syria: Al-Asad's Decade in Power Marked by Repression." Human Rights Watch, 16 Jul. 2010,

https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/07/16/syria-al-asads-decade-power-marked-repression.

The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica. Czechoslovakia. Encyclopdia Britannica,

Encyclopdia Britannica, inc., 20 Jan. 2016,

"War and Slavery in Sudan." Upenn.edu,

http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/13478.html.

Winer, Stuart. Syrian rebel leader asks Israel, US for help. The Times of Israel, RGB Media,

22 Aug. 2013, www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-rebel-leader-asks-israel-us-for-help/.