We urgently need to reign in the President’s power to further deploy U.S. forces to Syria. The allegation that Assad’s forces used chemical weapons on civilians in Duma, which is just outside Damascus, has not been proven and, from a tactical and strategic standpoint, makes no sense. By chemical warfare norms, the sarin gas attack in Duma was small and provided no tactical or strategic advantage to Assad’s forces which had already regained control in nearly all of Syria’s cities and is on the verge of restoring control over the entire country. Killing 80 people in Duma with sarin gas could do nothing to protect his own forces or hasten the end of the war. Furthermore, Assad is fully aware that using chemical weapons would draw U.S. forces into Syria with the express purpose of removing him from power. So why would he do that when a) there is no advantage and b) it would be ruinous to his government? It makes no sense. Assad may be an oppressive dictator, but he is not insane, stupid or irrational.
On the other hand, there is a strong motive for rebel forces to conduct a small chemical weapons attack in a major city. Knowing that U.S. opinion has already condemned Assad for all atrocities past, present and future, it would be easy to blame Assad for such an attack. Knowing that their defeat is imminent, rebel forces are desperate for help and U.S. support in removing Assad is exactly the help they need and want.
History is replete with false flag operations and numerous wars have been initiated because of them. From a pure logic point of view, this most recent sarin gas attack in Duma has all the earmarks of a false flag operation. As such, it behooves all of us to react cautiously to this attack and to wait until there is clear evidence as to who perpetrated the attack before condemning anyone or taking any action. It is not in the interests of the American people to start another unwarranted war, and being fully aware of our President’s volatility and the war powers bestowed upon him, it behooves Congress to take action to restrain the President and prevent U.S. forces from being deployed in another American disaster.