In as clear terms as possible, the Socialist Party USA condemns the massacre of at least eighty innocent Syrians in Khan Sheikhoun using chemical weapons. This inhumane act is completely unacceptable and cannot be defended. Regardless of who ordered this massacre, and despite any pandering from some on the US Left, history will remember these days and write that Bashar al-Assad butchered his own people and Vladimir Putin helped him do it.
At the same time and with equal clarity, we condemn the use of military force by the United States in Syria. It is unclear at this time whether this act was an one-off show of force or a precursor to something larger and more deadly, but as we have learned through countless examples, peace is not born from an exploding U.S. missile. We remain steadfast in the belief that United States involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan was unequivocally wrong. Without question, involvement in Syria will be wrong as well and will lead to more blood spilled and lives lost.
When Barack Obama was moving towards military engagement in Syria in 2013, people in the United States answered that war cry by organizing and demanding No War in Syria. Donald Trump is moving faster and, as a result, we must be that much more determined to keep the United States out of Syria.
Passed by the SPUSA National Action Committee 4/7/2017