It is always difficult to digest the reality of a violent foreign conflict. This is especially true when those in conflict come from a culture not particularly familiar in language, sectarian customs or religion. We may relate to images of a suffering people, but while these images put a human face on the conflict, they often also further solidify the perception that those in conflict are “there” and we are “here.”
The current crisis in Syria demonstrates this very clearly. For over three years the American people have heard occasional news reports about what has been termed a “civil war” in Syria. These reports have increased since the U.S. and allies have undertaken the offensive against ISIS, but the scope and context of the conflict remain ill-defined and unclear.
Foreign conflicts, including the Syrian crisis, can be compared to a jigsaw puzzle.
A jigsaw puzzle is a simple thing – typically a beautiful painting cut into 1000 oddly shaped inter-locking pieces all packed randomly into a box that has a copy of the painting the top so that the assembler can see what she or he is trying to put together. To many of us, foreign conflicts are similar, only missing at least half the pieces, as well as, the box.
Since we do not have box from which to pull our puzzle pieces, we find them where we can - the internet, the evening news, Facebook, Tweets, an occasional quickly skimmed newspaper article, a friend’s friend who visited the country in question a decade ago, advocacy group email alerts and our favorite puzzle piece outlet of all – our gut. Once it feels we have enough, we stop gathering and spread the pieces across the kitchen table of our internal cognitive discourse.
Despite not having a copy of what the final puzzle should look like we press on, trying to fit the pieces into something that resembles an image – any image. What most often emerges therefore is a forced, ill-fitted partial picture.
This is particularly true in regards to general public opinion regarding the current conflict in Syria.
The current crisis in Syria demonstrates this very clearly. For over three years the American people have heard occasional news reports about what has been termed a “civil war” in Syria. These reports have increased since the U.S. and allies have undertaken the offensive against ISIS, but the scope and context of the conflict remain ill-defined and unclear.
Foreign conflicts, including the Syrian crisis, can be compared to a jigsaw puzzle.
A jigsaw puzzle is a simple thing – typically a beautiful painting cut into 1000 oddly shaped inter-locking pieces all packed randomly into a box that has a copy of the painting the top so that the assembler can see what she or he is trying to put together. To many of us, foreign conflicts are similar, only missing at least half the pieces, as well as, the box.
Since we do not have box from which to pull our puzzle pieces, we find them where we can - the internet, the evening news, Facebook, Tweets, an occasional quickly skimmed newspaper article, a friend’s friend who visited the country in question a decade ago, advocacy group email alerts and our favorite puzzle piece outlet of all – our gut. Once it feels we have enough, we stop gathering and spread the pieces across the kitchen table of our internal cognitive discourse.
Despite not having a copy of what the final puzzle should look like we press on, trying to fit the pieces into something that resembles an image – any image. What most often emerges therefore is a forced, ill-fitted partial picture.
This is particularly true in regards to general public opinion regarding the current conflict in Syria.
The pieces many Americans have gathered or been given are limited to the following:
Syria is in the Middle East.
The Syrian people are predominately Muslim.
There are terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
Christians have been killed.
Journalists have been brutally murdered.
The US is bombing a group called ISIS or ISIL.
We don’t want “boots on the ground.”
Al Qaeda is involved.
Past US policy involving Iraq, has not succeeded as promised.
Past US policy involving Afghanistan, has not succeeded as promised.
Past US policy involving Libya, has not succeeded as promised.
It is possible to form a picture using this set of information. It is a picture; however, that does not reflect the actual crisis as a whole and more importantly speaks nothing of the vision of the Syrian people for their future.
To understand what is happening in Syria, why it matters and what the future can hold, we should spread a more pieces on our table.
Since the popular uprising and protests against President Assad began in March, 2011, more than 10.8 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes due to Assad's forces systematic terrorizing tactics against civilians including ethnic cleansing, aerial bombings and artillery shelling. (This is over 45% of the entire Syrian population.)
The UN estimates there are 3.2 million Syrian registered refugees in the UN managed camps outside Syria.
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed by President Assad since 2011. An estimated 15,000 of these have been children under 15.
President Assad has ordered the use of barrel bombs to destroy schools, hospitals and apartment buildings across entire cities and villages in areas outside his control.
There are more than 30 oppositional groups opposing Assad. These range ideologically from secular to moderately religious, including Christians to those that are radicalized including ISIS and al Nusra, an al Qaeda affiliated.
Syria is predominately Muslim, but the people of Syria be they Muslim, Christian or Jew have lived peacefully as neighbors for hundreds of years. In fact, Syria is home to the oldest Christian Church and the oldest Jewish Synagogue on earth
The city of Aleppo, once one of the largest cities in Syria, has been reduced from 2 million to an estimated 300,000 residence.
There are today only 15 doctors left in Aleppo in areas outside the regime control to treat the wounded in addition to the usual healthcare duties reduced from thousands.
This civil war has wreaked unimaginable horror on the people of Syria long before the birth of ISIS.
Add also to the table the following:
Turkey has offered to enforce a No Fly Zone around areas where Assad is currently relentlessly bombing civilians and open humanitarian corridors that would allow for desperately needed respite from Assad’s assaults.
Moderate Syrian oppositional forces have agreed to assist the US in fighting ISIS (to be our “boots on the ground”) but cannot as long as Assad is allowed to continue bombing their cities and killing their families.
If one is to understand the Syrian crisis, one must lay all these pieces on the table. They may not appear to offer the possibility of a pleasant final picture, but they offer the facts.
To complete the puzzle though, we must see the picture from the box. This picture ultimately is the vision for a post-conflict Syria – not the vision the west may have but the vision held by the Syrian people themselves. In the minds of the Syrian people who sought regime change, what does, or should, their future hold – not simply to defeat Assad, but beyond that, beyond the protests turned to battles, beyond peace talks and de-escalation – what does Syria look like when they dream of their future? This is the picture that must guide us.
I have many Syrian friends who have shared their vision for their country. It is simple actually and not all that different from the vision most in the United States have for our nation.
They see a Syria that is not ruled by a corrupt mafia-like system of corruption and intimidation, but rather by the rule of law and the principles of civil society – freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble. They see a Syria where people seek office not with the power of a coup but with the power of persuasion and reason.
Ultimately they see a Syria where they are free, where their children are free, free from tyranny and free to set their own nation’s course.
When one fits all the pieces together the puzzle is not only understandable, it is also telling in terms of why Syria is important and what initial action is demanded by the free world.
What we see is that Syria’s violence is not rooted in religious anger or radicalism. It is rooted in Assad’s dictatorial oppression. We see also that Assad is the cause not the fighter of terror in Syria. We see that his removal and subsequent legitimate political reforms are essential to Syria’s future. We see that the people of Syria have the richness of culture and history and the stubborn longing for democracy to walk into a stable future free of both the oppression of dictatorship and radicalism.
We see a future Syria that is our ally in a region where we need many but have few.
Syria is in the Middle East.
The Syrian people are predominately Muslim.
There are terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
Christians have been killed.
Journalists have been brutally murdered.
The US is bombing a group called ISIS or ISIL.
We don’t want “boots on the ground.”
Al Qaeda is involved.
Past US policy involving Iraq, has not succeeded as promised.
Past US policy involving Afghanistan, has not succeeded as promised.
Past US policy involving Libya, has not succeeded as promised.
It is possible to form a picture using this set of information. It is a picture; however, that does not reflect the actual crisis as a whole and more importantly speaks nothing of the vision of the Syrian people for their future.
To understand what is happening in Syria, why it matters and what the future can hold, we should spread a more pieces on our table.
Since the popular uprising and protests against President Assad began in March, 2011, more than 10.8 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes due to Assad's forces systematic terrorizing tactics against civilians including ethnic cleansing, aerial bombings and artillery shelling. (This is over 45% of the entire Syrian population.)
The UN estimates there are 3.2 million Syrian registered refugees in the UN managed camps outside Syria.
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed by President Assad since 2011. An estimated 15,000 of these have been children under 15.
President Assad has ordered the use of barrel bombs to destroy schools, hospitals and apartment buildings across entire cities and villages in areas outside his control.
There are more than 30 oppositional groups opposing Assad. These range ideologically from secular to moderately religious, including Christians to those that are radicalized including ISIS and al Nusra, an al Qaeda affiliated.
Syria is predominately Muslim, but the people of Syria be they Muslim, Christian or Jew have lived peacefully as neighbors for hundreds of years. In fact, Syria is home to the oldest Christian Church and the oldest Jewish Synagogue on earth
The city of Aleppo, once one of the largest cities in Syria, has been reduced from 2 million to an estimated 300,000 residence.
There are today only 15 doctors left in Aleppo in areas outside the regime control to treat the wounded in addition to the usual healthcare duties reduced from thousands.
This civil war has wreaked unimaginable horror on the people of Syria long before the birth of ISIS.
Add also to the table the following:
Turkey has offered to enforce a No Fly Zone around areas where Assad is currently relentlessly bombing civilians and open humanitarian corridors that would allow for desperately needed respite from Assad’s assaults.
Moderate Syrian oppositional forces have agreed to assist the US in fighting ISIS (to be our “boots on the ground”) but cannot as long as Assad is allowed to continue bombing their cities and killing their families.
If one is to understand the Syrian crisis, one must lay all these pieces on the table. They may not appear to offer the possibility of a pleasant final picture, but they offer the facts.
To complete the puzzle though, we must see the picture from the box. This picture ultimately is the vision for a post-conflict Syria – not the vision the west may have but the vision held by the Syrian people themselves. In the minds of the Syrian people who sought regime change, what does, or should, their future hold – not simply to defeat Assad, but beyond that, beyond the protests turned to battles, beyond peace talks and de-escalation – what does Syria look like when they dream of their future? This is the picture that must guide us.
I have many Syrian friends who have shared their vision for their country. It is simple actually and not all that different from the vision most in the United States have for our nation.
They see a Syria that is not ruled by a corrupt mafia-like system of corruption and intimidation, but rather by the rule of law and the principles of civil society – freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble. They see a Syria where people seek office not with the power of a coup but with the power of persuasion and reason.
Ultimately they see a Syria where they are free, where their children are free, free from tyranny and free to set their own nation’s course.
When one fits all the pieces together the puzzle is not only understandable, it is also telling in terms of why Syria is important and what initial action is demanded by the free world.
What we see is that Syria’s violence is not rooted in religious anger or radicalism. It is rooted in Assad’s dictatorial oppression. We see also that Assad is the cause not the fighter of terror in Syria. We see that his removal and subsequent legitimate political reforms are essential to Syria’s future. We see that the people of Syria have the richness of culture and history and the stubborn longing for democracy to walk into a stable future free of both the oppression of dictatorship and radicalism.
We see a future Syria that is our ally in a region where we need many but have few.
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