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Creating Syria Safe Zones Is Dangerous
(Bloomberg) Aaron David Miller - If President Obama determines that toppling the regime of Bashar al-Assad by force is a vital U.S. national interest (though it isn't), he should create a coalition to act quickly, decisively and effectively to do it. Otherwise, he should avoid half-baked measures, such as the safe-zones scheme, that can lead to an open-ended military commitment without accomplishing the intended results. Protecting these areas from the air might not be possible and would thus require boots on the ground. Declaring safe zones without having the means and will to protect them could lead to a repeat of the 1995 tragedy in Bosnia where UN peacekeepers couldn't protect civilians in UN-designated safe zones from Bosnian Serb massacres. If we do make Syria our priority, we have to accept the costs: To maintain the pressure against Iran's nuclear program, we'll need the Russians and the Chinese on board, but we won't get them to support both our policies on Iran and Syria.