Sir, – It was a relief to read Suzanne Lynch's questioning of former US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power who "held one of the most powerful foreign policy posts in the world" regarding her responsibilities in the Obama administration – rather than focusing solely on her critique of the horribleness of the Trump presidency (Magazine, October 28th)
Ms Lynch says the “unthinkable” happened for Samantha Power and former Obama staff when Trump was elected president. However the “unthinkable” for Syrians had already happened under the Obama presidency. During this time, Syrian civilians died by the hundreds of thousands. Refugees in their millions were forced to flee their homes. Millions more were internally displaced under ongoing bombardment. Thousands were – and still remain – trapped under barbaric starvation sieges like East Ghouta with shocking images of starving children emerging in recent days as UN supplies are blocked by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and allies.
Chemical attacks, detentions and forced disappearances continue with impunity despite so–called “de-escalation” deals.
According to the UN Commission of Inquiry report 2016 “Detainees held by the Syrian government are dying on a massive scale amounting to a state policy of extermination of the civilian population, a crime against humanity”.
Fred Hof, who resigned from the Obama administration in September 2012 in protest at Obama’s Syria policy, lambasted the response as “a pantomine of outrage” – repeated verbal condemnation through the years but not backed by any meaningful action. He said that Obama’s failure to act in Syria devalued the West’s pledge to prevent genocide. “I think that it renders almost meaningless this stock expression used by politicians whenever they discuss genocide or mass homicide, the whole expression of ‘Never Again’.”
In contrast to Hof's strong condemnation, Samantha Power, whose book A Problem from Hell focused on the consequences of political inaction in the face of genocide and mass atrocities, told Suzanne Lynch that she "very much" understands why Obama was "unpersuaded" to try "other things" in Syria which she, along with secretary of state John Kerry, had advocated.
Powerful policy-makers ought to be held to account in real time. Defending the decision to establish a no–fly zone to protect Benghazi in Libya in 2011, Power, speaking at the University of Columbia stated that failure to do so would have been "extremely chilling, deadly and indeed a stain on our collective conscience", the New York Times reported.
Syrians however, cried out in vain to the world for protection from a genocidal regime and its allies. Samantha Power should be challenged further on her stance on Syria in the Obama administration when she comes to Dublin later this month to give the TS Eliot lecture. – Yours, etc,
VALERIE HUGHES,
Cabra,
Dublin 7.