History instructs us those sanctions do not cause regime change and those affected are not the ones wielding power. It's the wretched, the poor, the huddled refuge seeking to survive, to paraphrase Lazarus' inscription on our Statute of Liberty who we are being ground into early graves by American government imposed sanctions.
The political goals of the sanctions imposed on Syrian civilian are one thing. The reality, quite another. US sanctions, some still in place against Cuba, after more than 53 years were a failure, as were US sanctions in China, Vietnam Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and now Syria, to name a few.
"They are all about unbridled vengeance, not rational consequences as offered in press releases from US government agencies" explained Samer, a business major from Aleppo.
Once more, much of the world including this region, as well as history will condemn the United States for these brutal economic crimes against a defenseless civilian population. Equally, among American citizens and others I have met recently in Lebanon, Egypt and Libya, who know what is happening on the ground in Syria. The overwhelming percentage does not accept and will never accept targeting innocent civilians, whether by drones or sanctions. They express feelings of shame, not just for the past 11 years of unnecessary, criminal wars of choice in this region but for the current and continuing sanctions crime against the Syrian people.
The hatred that our government has brought to itself over more than 15 years of targeting civilians is intensifying daily because those suffering and dying here in Syria due to starvation and the effects of the now freezing temperatures in Syria, do not blame their government nearly as much as our American policy makers apparently hoped for. Rather, they blame, quite correctly, our government.
As one observer noted this week, "The tents are drenched. Kids are crying. Puddles of water are all over"I am walking; my shoes are covered with rainwater. I can't remember being so cold. I don't even want to think about more than half of those living in my area. Something has to be done."
We American are demonstrating yet again to the world that we have the power to destroy civilian populations. But we are better than that as a people. And in the words of Oregon's late Senator Wayne Morse, "each one of us has a personal obligation to change, by all legal means necessary, our governments criminal acts."
Sitting at our table in the student union refectory at Damascus University on 1/9/12, Rana, a passionate and, on that occasion indignant, history student majoring in American history and culture may have reflected accurately the views of many on Syrian campuses these days.
Rana wished out loud to us that she could tell Barack Obama face to face: "Mr. President, in 1987 on the 750th anniversary of Berlin, your predecessor Ronald Reagan, spoke about the importance of human dignity and challenged Russian leader Gorbachev, to "tear down this wall." In 2013, we students and our families from Damascus, the city of Jasmine, which was inhabited as early as 8,000 BC, and whose livelihood, opportunities and hope you are destroying today for no sane reason, urge you to "tear down these sanctions', come to Syria, visit our campus, and engage in dialogue with us."
The Syrians are a great people. Rana, and her student colleagues, are a credit to Syria and to all humanity.
Franklin Lamb is doing research in Syria and can be reached c/o Email address removed
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