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Andrew Roberts: Syria's Gas Attack on Civilization

Wall Street Journal Original article ›

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A call to U.S. and European leaders to uphold civilized values after the repeated use of chemical weapons and poison gases in Syria by Bashir Assad. Roberts quotes the poet Wilfrid Owen who fought on the Western Front in World War I and witnessed the horror of gas attacks at the time. The poem is "Dulce et Decorum Est." It describes a chlorine gas attack at that time. The Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Aphyxiating, Poisonous and other Gases, banned their use in 1925. The hesitant response of president Obama to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by Assad compares very unfavorably with the Sarkozy-Cameron action in Libya and president Clinton's response in Kosovo after attacks on civilian populations. It also fails to uphold civilization values. This is true also of the government of Hollande in France, Merkel in Germany, which have failed to respond. The focus on domestic issues and the eurozone crisis does not make any less the responsibility of western leaders on this issue. Russia under Putin and China under Jinping have not grasped the importance of standing up for civilization and values to be credible in world affairs.

The use of chemical weapons by the Assad government in Syria and the failure of the U.S. Obama administration's response in Syria

08/23/2011

The western world looks on as chemical weapons are used repeatedly by Syria's Assad government, according to some reports. The lack of leadership from the U.S., France, Britain and Germany. The failure of the Russian government under Putin to separate global geopolitics from the aspirations of the people of Syria for freedom and democracy and the use of artillery and bombing of civilian population.

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