Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Don't Attack Syria

Two interviews with Alan Grayson (also here and here), U.S. representative for Florida's 9th district who says, "I don't know where we get this odd notion that every time we see something bad happen in the world, we should bomb it."  

Representative Grayson advances the commonsensical argument as to why we should not attack Syria, adding that we should be spending our money on jobs for the twenty million Americans looking for full-time work, building and repairing our nation's bridges and highways, education, and, I'd surmise, health care and social security.  He says that it's only "members of the military industrial complex" who want this attack, and not the American people.



In the following interview, uploaded August 29, 2013, Representative Grayson also says, "[...] the highest norm in international law is that you don't attack another country unilaterally without the authorization of the United Nations.  That's the United Nations Charter.  It's a fundamental principle.  We can't simply bomb people whenever we feel like it, particularly when one man is arrogating to himself that decision." 

Mr. Grayson also references the long-time civil war in Burma and the kind of factual investigations needed before embarking on such dangerous enterprises.  (Putting it mildly.)

At present, fear of U.S. attacks is fueling an increased flight of refugees out of Syria, that number now topping 2 million. 


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