The Green-Rainbow Party calls upon the people of Massachusetts to oppose the proposed imminent use of U.S. military forces to intervene in Syria. We abhor the deaths of civilians on all sides of the conflict, whether by the heinous use of chemical weapons or by conventional means, and support intensified international efforts to end the bloodshed.  But the military strikes being considered by the Obama Administration are illegal, unethical, unwise, and potentially catastrophic.

Far from providing a solution to the bloodshed,  U.S. air or missile strikes are likely to increase the level of violence, and could well lead to a wider war involving the United States, Israel, Iran, and Russia among others. (Already Russia is sending warships to the region and Iran is threatening retaliation.) Unilateral strikes would also undermine the coordinated international actions of the United Nations, the Arab League, and the many people within Syria who want the fighting to end.