I am writing to you as one of your constituents to ask that you not authorize military intervention in Syria.
My rationale for this is the following:
1. It appears there is little, if any, military goal of this action;
2. It is likely the President Assad is more likely rather than less likely to use chemical weapons on his people if the U.S. intervenes;
3. The nature of sectarian violence in the Middle East (wherein Sunnis and Shi'ites war against one another) is more tribal in orientation and not "western" at all. What this means is that the United States has a very limited understanding of the cultural dynamics at work in Syria. We would do best to stay out of that which we do not understand;
4. Who or what comes after Mr. Assad? If you think he is a despot and a criminal (which he is), just wait until jihadists control the country. While Americans may find Assad despicable (as we did Saddam Hussein and Khaddafi in Libya), regime change in the Middle East usually results in more confusion and suffering rather than less;
5. There is no international coalition to intervene in Syria. America is going it alone and we should not. It is not the place of the U.S. to police the world. I realize you may disagree with this assessment, but without the explicit support of allies such as the UK, France, Germany and Japan it does not seem appropriate for the U.S. to move forward.
Lastly, I do not want to minimize the genocide by the Syrian government in gassing more than 1,000 of its own people. The international community must act to limit Assad and for him to leave power. I just do not believe that military action moves the world closer to that goal.
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