August 26 US Poised to Strike Assad?

I have been reluctant to write in the these last few days, since I have felt that events could easily outpace whatever I write. These have, however, been “interesting” days, and events in the next few may continue to be the same. The Syrian chemical attack last week has taken the horror of that war to a whole new level– a level to which the western world will have to respond. According to some reports I have heard the attack was expected to be no worse than some previous instances of Syrian usage of chemical weapons. Regrettably, because of local weather conditions this attack has had the devastating effect that it did.

It is now clear that the failure of the west to take action the first time Assad used Chemical weapons was grave mistake. This mistake, regardless of how much President Obama wants to avoid it will not be repeated this time. I believe President Obama has come to the reluctant conclusion that allowing Assad to get away with the usage of chemical weapons a second time undermines the very stability of the 21st. century. If one dicatator can use weapons of mass destruction, then there is nothing stopping others from doing the same. Interesting after two years of saying nothing about the conflict that the official Israeli position on Assad changed this weekend. The government recently stated that what Assad did was "beyond the pale, and he should be dealt with."

I believe within the next 48 hours the United States, together with its allies, will launch a selected attack on Assad’s forces. The US truly does not want to get involved in the Syrian civil war– since there does not seem to be any "good sides" at the moment. However Assad needs to be punished. The massive use of the chemical weapons, especialy against women and children cannot be tolerated in this century.

Things went terribly wrong this morning in the Qalandia refugee camp when the army undertook the arrest of a Palestinian. When the event was over 3 Palestinian lay dead and 10 wounded. There can be no doubt that army forces were attacked by rocks, boulders, and other dangerous items. Our soldiers most likely acted according to procedure- using live bullets when they felt their lives were endangered. However, the event brings back personally memories and failings that I remember from when I was in the army. The unit responsible for the shooting was an Artillery unit serving as backup for the Border Patrol– who actually implemented the arrest. I was in the artillery unit for reserve duty (after serving in the Air Force for my regular service.) I received extensive technical training in the artillery. However, most of my reserve duty did not take place manning artillery guns– most of the time my unit was doing what is called "Achzuka" in Hebrew (which in my case, back when, included a summer patrolling the Gaza Strip). The problem was we were patrolling as infantryman– something that I had no experience or training to do, Other than target practice with our guns, we were never given any infantry training. Rather, when ever there was time and money to train us, it was in ballastics and other things necessary in artillery. My guess is very little has changed. Whatever troubles the soldiers found themselves in Qaladia this morning, they were probably ill equipped to deal with the situation.