Human rights organizations believe that some 70,000 innocent civilians have been killed by the government in Syria's civil war and a million more have fled their country as refugees. Another million internally displaced people are wandering around inside Syria seeking safety.
Since World War II, after Hitler's evil attempt to annihilate an entire population, people have been asking why the world took so long to intervene. Yet today, while innocent people are being sent to their deaths in Syria, the world continues to hem and haw while it tip-toes around the politically correct policies of honoring Syria's national autonomy and respecting its "sovereignty."
In the name of humanity and decency, what we need is for someone to step up and say to the governments of the world: "Sign on here to join a multinational military force whose sole purpose will be to invade Syria, remove Assad and his henchmen, restore order and then leave."
Decades of regrets and the "why didn't anyone do something" finger-pointing after the fact are too little, too late. The remorse that followed WWII should have taught all the so-called civilized nations how to deal with a deadly bully. Have we learned nothing?
Wailing and gnashing of teeth are not enough. Sorrow and regret will not bring back the innocent men, women and children who have already died in Syria or those who dying there today. How long will the world wait before it ends this slaughter?
Edgar C. Ludwig, Baltimore