Dear Under-Secretary-General Bachelet,
The Houla massacre leaves us no other choice than to act more robustly in Syria.
We must end the spiral of violence that this country has suffered for over a year. Whatever the form of action taken, the protection of the Syrian people must be our only goal, and must be greater than our hesitations.
The peace plan drawn up by Kofi Annan has -- by his own admission -- shown its limits. We must now find an alternative solution, so that the tragic toll of over 14,000 deaths in 15 months does not increase any further.
We must take concrete measures beyond sanctions and symbolic gestures. The time for simple statements and messages of deterrence is over. Syria has now slipped into civil war.
Expelling Syrian ambassadors from European embassies is not a sufficient response to the horrors that are unfolding just a few miles from Europe's borders.
We are both women involved in politics. Over and above our respective roles, this commitment and our visibility give us a greater responsibility towards all people suffering around the world.
It is of no avail to call for more women in politics if we do not make use of our courage and our sensitivity, which sometimes lack amongst our male peers.
I ask you, Under-Secretary-General Bachelet, to show this courage by leading a more robust position in order to end the massacres in Syria.
You have an opportunity to honor the office that was entrusted to you. Universal values are being violated every day in Syria, and we have a duty to protect them, collectively.
I ask you to add your voice to mine in calling on Asma Al-Assad to stop denying the reality and the responsibility from which she has hidden for the past several months.
Above and beyond politics, it is a duty which stems from our common humanity that should bring us together.
I cannot believe that Mrs. Al-Assad can remain indifferent to the unspeakable atrocities being committed. She could still play a role in ending them. We have a duty to remind her.
For all those children and many more, for all those women and men, we must ask Mrs. Al-Assad to open her eyes and act.
Let us go together to talk to her, and to tell her that beyond political considerations, we are there first and foremost to protect those children, women, and men.
We must not be guilty of not having done enough. Let us not limit ourselves to what, institutionally, we can or cannot do. We must act. Let us not rest until our message is heard and accepted. Let us not rest as long as innocent victims continue to be massacred every day on Europe's doorstep.
Follow Rachida Dati on Twitter: www.twitter.com/datirachida
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Oh, yes...spreading our message through military intervention has always worked out so well in the middle east.
"We can't limit ourselves to what, institutionally, we can or cannot do."
How else are we supposed to limit ourselves if not by determining what we cannot do? Great argument. No suggestions on WHAT TO DO, just do SOMETHING!!!! Yes, that tack has always served us well. We can't just sit here, we have to do SOMETHING. regardless of what we "can or cannot do." Thanks for the suggestion.
That was SO much fun in Iraq and they love us SO much for it now
Syria is a culture that has battling internally for more than two thousand years and Jewish money and interests even played a role backing the legendary Saladin. France during the late 1930s proposed an enclave inside Turkey for the Alewite minority that the Asad family, didn't happen. And as for Ms Dati's posit that Europe is outraged something like this is going on so close by... well, the United States has bases in Turkey that are breathing down on Syria from less than 100 miles away. This is a human condition issue and a defense driven economy issue and a balance of power issue. And as a conversation here it reveals the limits of Soft Power and how even difficult dialogues fail to cross over onto the power curve. As a famous U.S. civil war general said, war is hell. So is the proxy terrorism that Asad sometimes sponsors and provides cover for. Ms Bachelet is aware that toppling his regime will create more instability and only lead to what the U.S. and Israel are now supporting in Egypt.
through a use of violence… Its only logical Captain.
"We must now find an alternative solution"
How about we stop fighting…evolution? We’ve tried brawn, and look where its gotten us. How about seeing if our brains can do any better?
"a more robust position in order to end the massacres in Syria."
There are two (or more) ideologies struggling for supremely here. Take any of the belligerents and place them in a cage with a gorilla. Which of that pair is likely to triumph? Is that because the hairy primate has a superior intellect? Hardly. So what are we attempting to prove here? That dumb muscle is the way forward.
"denying the reality"
Hmmm. A common condition that's oh so simple to cure, though confrontation with a couple of unconsidered questions.
"it is a duty which stems from our common humanity that should bring us together."
Ensuring the survival of the species. For in our absence, who else would organise all these wars?
I'm in.
In something
without a paddle
When one meddles about with another, well...big, grand wars ensue.
Leave Syria, to sort it's own affairs.
You're genuinely appealing to Mrs Assad to speak to her hubby? Srsly? I can just see the scenario:
Breakfast at the Assad's. Mrs A enters in one of her thousand and seven designer outfits she's paid for off the backs of her countrypeople. "Oh, darling, would you mind stopping the civil war for me?' she asks 'Some european under-secretary has asked, and I don't want to seem rude'. Mr Assad (looking up from a plate of his enemy's kidneys)' 'Sure honey. No problem - I'll make the phone call now...' What world does this writer live in?
Having lost her political power potential after the right wing defeat in France, with much shorter tv exposure, she suddenly remembered she was a European deputy (second to last in attendance records) and decided to bank on that post for now. Hence the international topic. Probably wants to join Mrs. Assad on her well documented shopping trips, maybe New York next?
OKAY...condemn the "liberal left" for not liking the Iraq war, then....say that our military ISN'T designed to fight those kinds of wars, then...throw out what is considered a waaaaaay liberal left idea of "quickly finding an alternative to fossil fuels".
No contradictions there....