Protesters call for peace in Syria

Serife Sevis has seen the Syrian refugees fleeing their homeland into her native Turkey. She has seen the faces of parents and their children, faces she said have lost hope of returning home.

Sevis, an IU graduate student in the School of Education who was in Turkey before returning to IU for the fall semester, was just one of many people from the Bloomington community gathered on the southeast lawn of the Monroe County Courthouse Monday protesting the United States taking military action against Syria.

“We are human beings,” she said. “Why can’t we solve this in a humanistic way?”
The protest, partly organized locally by the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition, was part of a national call on Moveon.org for protests to take place Sept. 9.

David Keppel, a member of BPAC and chair of the Just Peace Task Force, said he wants to see the war that didn’t happen, and that is why citizens need to make their voice heard.

President Obama is currently facing down Congress and the American people in hopes of gaining support for military action against Syria following the Aug. 21 chemical attacks outside its capital, Damascus.

President Obama has vowed there will be military action from the United States, which said the sarin gas attacks that killed more than 1,400 civilians was a result of the country’s own government.

Even with recent developments on Monday giving signs of a possible diplomatic solution, President Obama has said he is still skeptical.

The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad said it welcomed a Russian proposal to turn over control of its chemical weapons to international monitors to avoid military strikes, according to the Washington Post.

The statement made by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in Moscow was the first indication of a possible diplomatic solution to the international debate.

Obama called the proposal a “potentially positive development,” that could represent a “significant breakthrough,” but said he remains skeptical the Syrian government would follow through on its obligations based on its recent track record. Skepticism aside, the president will still look for support to pursue military strikes.

Barbara Dennis, a professor in the School of Education, said she was protesting to raise people’s awareness of how their support can make a difference. People need to remember they have a voice, she said, and that there are nonviolent ways to respond to these issues.

Many of the voices in Indiana are being heard by Senator Dan Coats, R-Ind. Coats, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, spoke on the senate floor Monday regarding the president’s request for congressional authorization to strike Syria. He said the president addresses the nation Tuesday, and he must explain more thoroughly exactly how America’s national security interests would be served.

“I agree with those who say that the president’s credibility and our nation’s credibility are linked,” Coats said. “However, with his now notorious and ill-considered ‘red line’ comment, President Obama has forced us to debate a military attack in yet another Middle East country. Unfortunately, it appears the purpose of the military attack is, first and foremost, to defend his own credibility.”

Coats said he has visited with Hoosiers from across the state during the last week, and through these visits and through calls and emails, he has learned the vast majority of the state is opposed to U.S. military engagement in Syria.

“Simply put, the people of Indiana do not see that American policy and action has attained meaningful results in the Middle East,” he said. “Instead, they see a region of continuing and increasing violence, chaos and disintegration. They are war-weary and discouraged after more than a decade of wars that have not produced the desired
outcomes.

Follow reporter Jake Wright on Twitter @fljwright.