Correspondence from Senator McCain
Senator
John McCain
Dr.Constantin
Burlacu
Subject:
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Correspondence
from Senator McCain
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Date:
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9/26/2013
2:34:16 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
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September 26, 2013
Dr. Constantin Burlacu
464 Woodward Ave
Apt.2L
Ridgewood, NY 11385-1533
Dear Dr. Burlacu:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the recent events in Syria. I
appreciate hearing from you on this important
issue.
You may be aware of Syria’s recent history. In 2011, the Regime of Bashar
al-Assad responded to pro-democracy Syrian protestors by deploying his army,
triggering a wave of violence that continues to the present. Rather than
addressing the legitimate concerns of the Syrian people, the Assad regime has
crushed peaceful demonstrations, unjustly imprisoned thousands of protestors,
and slaughtered more than 110,000 people, indiscriminately using chemical
weapons, firing artillery into neighborhoods, and overrunning villages with
tanks and warplanes. Syria is now engaged in a full-fledged civil war which
threatens to become a regional conflict and there is no end in sight to this
oppression and slaughter.
It remains clear to me that only the threat of potential military action
against the Assad regime and its chemical weapons capabilities can potentially
yield the negotiated weapons turnover plan brokered by Moscow. I am hopeful that
this will happen, but at the same time, all of us need to be realistic about
this situation.
We should not trust, and we must verify. The only credible way for the
Obama Administration to test the Russian proposal is to immediately introduce a
U.N. Security Council Resolution that spells out in clear, detailed terms
exactly what the international community should expect of the Assad regime if it
is serious about abandoning its weapons of mass destruction. Assad will use the
months and months afforded to him to delay and deceive the world using every
trick in Saddam Hussein's playbook. It requires a willful suspension of
disbelief to see this agreement as anything other than the Obama Administration
being led into a blind alley by Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin. No one
trusts Assad’s sincerity. And there is little reason to have more faith in
Russia, especially when President Putin himself still insists that the Syrian
opposition was responsible for the use of chemical weapons. This is why
enforcement is so critical. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration’s claim that
the threat of force remains on the table rings somewhat hollow in light of the
events of the past few weeks.
Even worse, the Russian proposal to remove chemical weapons does nothing
to resolve the real problem in Syria, which is the underlying conflict that has
killed 110,000 people, driven millions from their homes, destabilized our
friends and allies in the region, emboldened Iran and its terrorist proxies, and
become a safe haven for thousands of Al-Qaeda affiliated extremists. Is the
message of this agreement that Assad is now our negotiating partner, and that he
can go on slaughtering innocent civilians and destabilizing the Middle East
using every tool of warfare, so long as he does not use chemical weapons? That
is morally and strategically indefensible.
As awful as chemical weapons are, and as much as we all want them taken
away from Assad, they are just one symptom of the deteriorating conflict in
Syria. We need a strategy to end this war as soon as possible, because the
longer it goes the worse it gets. That strategy must degrade the military
capabilities of the Assad regime, upgrade the military capabilities of the
moderate opposition, shift the momentum on the battlefield, and thereby create
conditions for a negotiated end to the conflict and the removal from power of
Assad and his top henchmen.
For the reasons stated above, Congress should still proceed to consider
and vote on the authorization for use of force. This will give the President
additional leverage to press Russia and Syria to make good on their proposal to
take the weapons of mass destruction out of Assad’s hands, and also turn the
tide against the tyrannical rule of the Assad regime.
Let’s be clear—no one wants to be involved in Syria. But the reality is
we are involved. We are more involved today than one year ago. We were more
involved one year ago than two years ago. And we will almost certainly be more
involved next year than we are now – only then, the conflict will be worse, and
we will have worse and fewer options to address it. But eventually we will have
to address it, not because we want to, but because our interests, and the
security of our friends and allies, require it.
Once again, thank you for writing to me on this very important and
dynamic issue. I am passionate about this issue and take my positions and
responsibilities very seriously. I thank you for your input, respect your
stance, and will keep your concerns in mind as we move forward.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senator
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