John McCain on Monday became the first senator to call for airstrikes
in Syria, saying that an international effort was needed to protect
civilians and carve out safe havens for opposition forces in a nation
where an escalating government crackdown has claimed thousands of lives.
“The kinds of mass atrocities that NATO intervened in Libya to prevent in Benghazi are now a reality in Homs,” McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor.
“Indeed, Syria today is the scene of some of the worst state-sponsored
violence since Milosevic’s war crimes in the Balkans, or Russia’s
annihilation of the Chechen city of Grozny.”
The Arizona senator acknowledged that by committing foreign forces
there was an inherent danger of fanning the flames of existing sectarian
conflict. Still, the former GOP presidential nominee said that the risk
would exist whether or not the United States got involved.
