Identity of the Side that Deployed Chemical Weapons is Crucial.

by Ghassan Karam

No one will be able to forget anytime soon the grotesque images of the over 1300 bloodless dead Syrians in the suburbs of Damascus any time soon. I know that these images, especially those of one row after another of the innocent young children will literally speaking stay with me for the rest of my life. What the perpetrators have killed is the future; they have snuffed out the life of many that have nothing in their hearts except love for life and a great longing for a promising future both for them, their families and for humanity. This is the most grotesque of crimes, it is a crime against humanity not only because it employed illegal weapons but also for the wanton disregard for all that is decent, moral and proper.

Yet, as egregious and as horrible of an act as this is we must be exceptionally careful not to make false accusations unless we are very certain of who orchestrated this massacre of innocence. I believe that this event presents a major fork in the road of this quagmire that has been going on and getting worse each day for over two years. If solid evidence is presented showing the complicity of the Syrian regime then it would be difficult and let me suggest immoral and unethical for the international community not to respond in strong terms to this monstrous act. This could prove to be the beginning of the end of this cruel regime that has spread fear and terror among the Syrian civilians for over forty years. But this is not a certainty. Many experts and observers have asked many common sense questions that need to be answered prior to arriving at such a conclusion.

If on the other hand the evidence does point a finger of blame towards a third party that has conspired to kill the innocents in an attempt to blame the regime for this horrible act then such a party must be held accountable for such a diabolical scheme, a scheme that not only killed the innocent but that betrayed an uprising against illegitimacy. If this is the case then I am afraid that the regime will capitalize on these events to build up its support and burnish its credentials. I am afraid that in that case the dictatorship will get an extension on what appeared to be the end of its life span. The injustice and tyranny will in that case only grow and become more entrenched.

It is never easy to make a serious accusation but it must be doubly difficult and we have to be very cautious when so much is riding on the decision of who did what to whom. This is not an issue that can be taken lightly irrespective of one’s personal feelings towards one group or the other. No one wants to bear false witness in order to achieve a particular outcome since common decency and a strong sense of morality should dictate to us that an end, as noble and as justifiable as it might be can never justify dishonest, corrupt and debased means. Surely we can agree that there is a cost that is too high to pay for any outcome even if it is to tip the balance against the cruel dictatorship of the Syrian Baath.

The next few days should prove to be monumental in seeking the truth. What is needed is unimpeded access to the sites of this gruesome event, hair and blood samples to be sent to laboratories all over the world as well as an expert examination of all the video clips and the locations where the victims died. All of this has to happen within the next day or so if we are to learn the identity of the true killers.