OPINION:
Syria has suffered greatly from more than 13 years of civil war (“The fall of Assad: Five hot takes,” web, Dec. 9).
Though it was a dictatorship under Bashar Assad, its patchwork of ethnic groups living in Syria did function together in a secular state. Now, however, that secular state has been destroyed and will likely be replaced with an Islamic-dominated banana republic similar to those that were put in place in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq.
What will be the fate of Syria’s Christians, who have been Christian since the time of Jesus? Will the country be partitioned into different independent nations? If so, the Kurds, who want to create an independent homeland in Turkey, will be emboldened to keep fighting Turkey. That will irk our NATO ally and provoke more instability.
If Syria is to remain within its present internationally recognized borders, civil war will likely continue indefinitely, and at great cost to Syrians. It will also continue to cost Syria’s supporters, including the U.S. Under the guise of this chaos, terrorism will no doubt continue to plague the Middle East and frustrate the healing of this long-tormented region.
Thus, regardless of what happens to Syria, chaos is likely to continue now that the stalemate has been broken. When will it be time to throw in the towel?
President-elect Donald Trump has a mandate from the American people to fix broken America, not irreparable Syria. We have squandered far too much blood and treasure occupying what may be another lost cause in the Middle East. It’s high time for us to leave Syria and focus on making America great again. Let the Syrians resolve their differences on their own.
MICHAEL PRAVICA
Henderson, Nevada
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