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Last Updated on April 9, 2018.

 

April 09, 2018

WASHINGTON — CREDO, MoveOn, and Win Without War released the following statement regarding news of a new chemical weapons attack in Syria and Donald Trump’s reported consideration of whether to use military force in response to the attack:

This weekend’s reported chemical weapons attack on Douma is the latest horror in a war that has seen seven years of brutal inhumanity. It is long past time for the international community to come together to end this horrific war and use all available international accountability mechanisms at its disposal to bring true justice to the victims of Syria’s war crimes.

Coming nearly one year to the day after Donald Trump’s decision to launch 59 tomahawk missiles into a Syrian government air base, we’re reminded that unilateral, American military force has been a complete failure. Trump’s missiles neither hastened the end of the war nor did they prevent further atrocities like the apparent one this weekend. Trump should learn from that failure and resist the urge to once again launch unilateral, unauthorized military attacks on Syria.

The only way to end this war, is to end this war.

The reality is that creative, sustained, genuine diplomacy is needed to truly resolve this conflict and prevent further chemical weapons attacks. The Trump administration has been largely absent on pushing for a comprehensive political settlement to the conflict. In fact, in Syria as in the rest of the Middle East, the Trump administration has ramped up war making with little disregard for the costs to civilians while retreating from its obligations to engage diplomatically and honor its humanitarian obligations. And with Trump actively considering military action, we strongly urge Congress to exert its sole constitutional authority to authorize such force and do everything in its power to prevent Trump and and his new National Security Advisor, John Bolton, from unilaterally launching unauthorized military strikes.

The international community must finally confront our collective failure to end the horrors of Syria’s war, but not by adding yet more fuel to the inferno. Failing to do so will mean that the horrors of seven years of war will be compounded as conflict rages on, imprisoned civilians continue to be tortured and killed, and the perpetrators of these horrific crimes go unpunished.

 

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April 9, 2018