Support for Caricom on punishing Syria without military strikes

Dear Editor,
The United States President Barack Obama is dead set on using military strike action against Syrian military installations for the use of chemical weapons two weeks ago and has sought congressional approval for attacking Syria, which has been devastated by two years of civil war.
No doubt, those who used chemical weapons must be punished, but military strikes should not be the only way to punish the perpetrators. Toward this end, I support the recommendation made by our government and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to allow the United Nations (UN) to find a way to address the issue. Diplomatic measures should be employed to punish the actors without inflicting further punishment and suffering on a population via military strikes. We need a peaceful solution to the civil war in Syria. American-led military strikes will kill more people and destroy more infrastructure and will not necessarily destroy chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
In addition, there is a possibility of hitting WMD supplies killing many more in the process. And worse, what if in the process of military strikes on Syrian military infrastructure the Bashar al-Assad regime collapses, who will step in to restore order and prevent the rise of Al Qaeda terrorists from taking over?
There is no doubt that WMDs were used in Syria as the UN inspectors and intelligence experts have confirmed. But it has not been definitively determined who used it and why. The Assad regime had nothing to benefit from using WMDs because it knew it would incur the wrath of the international community.
Thus, it is conceivably possible that WMD was used by forces who want the U.S. to intervene and destroy the Assad military forces. Assad is a dictator who should have been removed from office a long time ago and the Syrian people given a voice on how they are governed. But democratic governance has not been a way of life in Syria or neighbouring countries.
And if the international community is seeking to impose democratic rule in Syria, then the same should be done in all of the other countries in the region.
Some 1450 lives were lost from the use of chemical weapons on August 21 as compared with some 150,000 who have died during the two years of the civil war and another two million who were displaced living as refugees. Military strikes will not solve the problem of Syria. It will not lead to democratic rule. Syrians need peace and the establishment of a representative government, not more war.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for fresh talks on Syria, and both Russia and China say they are amenable to a workable solution that does not involve military attacks on Syria. The majority of the G20 countries that met in St Petersberg is also opposed to striking Syria and has called for further discussions.
President Obama does not need congressional approval to attack Syria, but wants the blessing of the U.S. Congress for such attacks, just in case something goes wrong, similar to approval for attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq where the U.S. has been in war for 10 years and counting.
The prestige of Obama is on the line and the U.S. Congress will not wish to embarrass the president by voting against his request. But as Caricom has advised, military strikes are not the way to go against Assad. Some other means of punishing those responsible is the right way to handle the situation.
Sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram