Saturday, January 14, 2012

Qatar proposes sending Arab troops to Syria


by Rick Moran

If the Arab League isn't going to do it, nobody else will.

Reuters:

Qatar has proposed sending Arab troops to halt the bloodshed in Syria, where violence has raged despite the presence of Arab League monitors sent to check if an Arab peace plan is working.

Asked if he was in favor of Arab nations intervening in Syria, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told the U.S. broadcaster CBS: "For such a situation to stop the killing ... some troops should go to stop the killing."

The emir, whose country backed last year's NATO campaign that helped Libyan rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi, is the first Arab leader to propose Arab military intervention in Syria where protesters are demanding President Bashar al-Assad stand down.

CBS said on its website that the interview would be broadcast in its "60 Minutes" programme on Sunday.

Qatar's prime minister heads the Arab League committee on Syria and has said killings have not stopped despite the presence of Arab monitors sent there last month.

In the preview of the interview on the website, the emir did not spell out how any Arab military intervention might work.

Something truly horrific - a massacre of thousands of Syrians by Assad - would have to occur before the Arab League lifts a finger to help. The reality is, few League members want to establish such a precedent since their dictatorships could very well be next in the "Arab Spring" parade.They are worried that any such intervention could come back to haunt them if they face a similar situation to Assad's.

So the League will continue to be ineffective and Assad will continue the killing. Not very satisfactory, but that's the reality under which the Syrian protestors live.

Rick Moran

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/01/qatar_proposes_sending_arab_troops_to_syria.html

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