What Should the U.S. Do About Syria?

The New Republic has been hosting an online symposium of opinion pieces dedicated to answering the question: What should the U.S. do about Syria? Click the title to see the full text of each piece.

It’s Time to Arm the Syrian Opposition is a piece by Daniel Drezner that first lists solutions for Syria that can be eliminated: U.N.-Approved intervention (failed), negotiations with Bashar Al Assad (not possible), no-fly zone (no effect), U.S. ground campaign (impractical). Drezner then says the remaining solution is to arm the Syrian opposition, “at least to even the odds on the battlefield.”

How to Get Rid of Assad By Engaging Him is a piece by Larry Diamond argues for intensive diplomacy coupled with targeted sanctions that will “ induce the Assad regime to accept a negotiated exit and transition, as is unfolding in Yemen, or to fracture the regime over time and peel away its pillars of support.” At the end of the piece, Diamond agrees with Drezner that arming the opposition may be the only backup plan to failed diplomacy attempts.

The Case for Organizing a Military Force from Muslim Countries to Intervene in Syria, written by Soner Cagaptay, makes a case for military intervention in Syria. Using the U.S.-led intervention in Bosnia in the 1990s as a precedent, Cagaptay calls for an intervention strategy that is “supported by the Russians, executed by the Turks and Arabs, and remotely backed by the U.S. and its European allies.”

Intervention in Syria is Morally Justified – and Completely Impractical is written by James Traub who points out the flaws in legitimacy of an international intervention in Syria, especially given that an intervention has not been approved by an international body such as the Security Council or Arab League. In weighing the possible outcomes of an intervention, Traub writes “Western nations and the Arab League should expand and tighten sanctions on Assad and his circle in order to persuade fence-sitters in the business class to abandon the regime.”

Break the Stalemate! A Blueprint For a Military Intervention in Syria by Michael Weiss emphasizes that time is running out to intervene in Syria. Weiss says that the longer the international community waits, the worse the situation will get, which in turn will lead to catastrophic aftermath of an intervention. He elaborates on the different facets of the Syrian crisis (government and opposition) and includes theories on how the intervention should be carried out.

Why Obama Has to Lead From Behind in Syria, Even if He Doesn’t Want To is a piece by Blake Hounshell that highlights the lack of coherency in the international community when it comes to solutions for Syria. Because of the many different opinions mulling around about what to do, Hounshell says “Obama’s challenge is to accelerate Assad’s fall with one hand tied behind his back,” and that for now,  his only option is to “lead from behind.”