On September 4th, I contacted my congressman, Representative Howard Coble, who represents the 6th District in my home state of North Carolina. I wasn’t sure when a vote on Syria was taking place and I’m still not sure but I do know that President Obama is going to be addressing the nation today (September 10th) at some point and I know a vote will be coming soon so I would absolutely encourage and even urge you to call your congressman whenever you get the free opportunity if you’re as passionate as I am about wanting keep our troops and our national security out of harm’s way.
The following are the five reasons I used when I called my representative’s office as reasons for not wanting to get involved in Syria:
1. Syria is not a direct threat to our national security and has no chance of becoming a threat if we simply stay out of their affairs.
2. Dropping bombs on Syria — even for a limited duration is guaranteed to cause collateral damage on the Syrian people. You can’t bring peace with more violence. (For those who don’t know, collateral damage is defined as: Unintended damage, injuries, or deaths caused by a military operation.)
3. The Obama Administration has yet to release any actual evidence that the Assad regime is the responsible party for the use of chemical weapons. If the Obama Administration is so certain that it was Assad, why haven’t they published their evidence?
4. Even politicians who support military action in Syria have admitted that some of the Syrian rebels are members of Al Qaeda. Why are we in such a hurry to align ourselves with a group responsible for the worst terrorist attack in United States history? Also, how can we be so sure that the arms supplied to the “moderate” Rebels won’t end up in the hands of more extremist factions?
5. A clear plan has not been spelled out to the public. What is the next course of action for once the Syrian chemical weapons are dismantled? Do we leave at that point? And what if we are unable to dismantle weapons, then what happens? Finally, have we considered the possibility of Russia, China, or Iran getting involved? What happens in that scenario?
Bonus reason: As it stands now the United States and France are the only two nations that seem intent on taking action against the Assad regime. Why can’t we just wait until we hear the results of the UN inspections? If the UN is able to confirm that chemical weapons were used that there were a considerable number of civilian casualties, this might bring more international support to the cause and give the United States more credibility on the issue. Why is the US government in such a hurry to strike now when there have already been 110,000+ casualties so far?
Obviously there are a lot of other reasons that could be used but if you are interested in voicing your opposition to your congressman and are not sure what to say, feel free to use the reasoning in this article as a guideline for what to say or just read all of it verbatim, it doesn’t matter. I’d be flattered if someone thought that something I said was worth using as sound reasoning for staying out of Syria.
So far, I have not heard back from Representative Howard Coble or his office. Last I read was that he was leaning towards voting “no” on Syrian intervention but still wanted to hear more on the situation. If I do hear from him, I’ll update this article and let everyone know and I’ll also update this to tell you how he voted on the matter. Let’s hope that he listens to his constituents and trusts his initial instincts on the matter.
If you’re interested in contacting your congressman but you’re not sure who your congressman is or what number to call to get in touch with their office, you can click on this link and type in your zip code to find out all the necessary information.
Thanks for reading.
edmundelsesser 