International Responses to Syrian Conflict, Military Intervention, and Chemical Weapons: Arguments For and Against

Title: Don’t just bomb Assad. Bomb al-Qaeda, too.
Author: Marc Thiessen, A fellow with the American Enterprise Institute and weekly columnist with the Washington Post.

Title: Syria and the U.S. National Interest: The case for intervention that the President hasn't made.

Title: Pulling the Curtain Back on Syria

Title: On the Case for Action in Syria

Title: Send Assad a message he will understand
Author: Robert M. Danin, Sr. Fellow Council on Foreign Relations

Highlight of Doran's Talk in Brookings Institute event entitled "Striking Syria? Obama, Congress and Military Action." See box below for entire 1.5-hr video event.

Title: All US can do is punish Syria

Title: Bomb Syria, Even if It Is Illegal
Author: Ian Hurd is associate professor of political science at Northwestern

Title: No time to turn a blind eye to Syria; US has to make clear it will not tolerate use of WMD

Title: America Must Respond to the Atrocities in Syria
Author: Richard Haass

In light of a recent UN report, and in the absence of clear international standards for humanitarian intervention, the US must intervene in Syria to ensure stability and consistency in the region and its own foreign policy

Title: A Syrian’s Cry for Help
Author: Yassin al-Haj Saleh, a writer and activist, was a political prisoner from 1980-96.

This page maps the debate among scholarly commentators on the legal arguments regarding the public international law aspects (but not domestic constitutional law) of the use of force against Syria published in English language legal blogs and newspapers (and some very recent journal articles).

ASIL Insight, publication of the American Society of International Law, by Kenneth Anderson

Former State and Defense Department officials and a former CIA analyst talked about the possibility of U.S. military strikes on Syria in response to the use of chemical weapons against civilians. Excellent discussion with a wide variety of perspectives.

Harvard University Panel. Professors R. Nicholas Burns, Niall Ferguson, Joseph S. Nye, and Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (BCSIA) International Security Fellow Marisa L. Porges, engaged in a panel conversation moderated by Graham T. Allison, BCSIA Director, about the challenges and options for U.S. intervention in the Syria.

Title:A Plea for Caution From Russia

Title: A Diplomatic Proposal for Syria

Title: The Arab D-Day
Authors: Nawaf Obaid is a fellow at the Belfer Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Jamal Khashoggi is the editor in chief of the Al Arab Satellite News Channel.

Title: The Use of Force Against the People of Syria Will Be a Serious Violation of International Law
Author, Curtis Doebbler, Webster University and Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations

Tory MP urges US to pull back from attack on Syria

Stressing need for any intervention to have the approval of the U.N. Security Council

Highlight of Shapiro's talk in Brookings Institute event entitled "Striking Syria? Obama, Congress and Military Action." See "Both Arguments" box below for entire 1.5-hr video event.

Post "What Congress should do" on his Peacefare.net blog.

Authorization for action in Syria - Attacking Syria without the UN's go-ahead would be a mistake.

Title: The Law and Strategy of Humanitarian Intervention
Author: Guglielmo Verdirame, Professor of International Law at Kings College London

Steven A. Cook is a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.