Nothing the crowd said to Senator McCain at the Interagency Fire Center on Thursday afternoon made a difference. Senator McCain was gracious and approachable, but far from open minded.
The Tucson town hall, held at 2 p.m. when most of McCain’s constituents were hard at work, was sparsely attended with about 100 people packed into the small meeting room. Press members nearly equaled the number of Southern Arizona residents in the room.
McCain started off with a brief explanation of the complex current events in Syria. McCain quickly explained the current Foreign Relations Committee’s resolution, which recently passed, and he supports. McCain asked, “So what is it that I think is the right thing to do? In this resolution, that will be before the Senate next week, says three things.”
“One, that we will take action to degrade Bashar al-Assad’s capability to use chemical weapons and on that issue, by the way, there is going to be no doubt that he used chemical weapons,” he said. “The evidence is really overwhelming and there is more and more coming, and he has already used them in small amounts…”
“So the second portion of this resolution says that we will arm and assist the right Free Syrian Army that is fighting against Bashar al-Assad,” McCain continued attempting to put critics at ease. “Now some of you may believe how can you do that and not getting into the wrong people? Well, the fact is, the Saudis have been helping these people for a long time with weapons and got them to the right people and also, the fact is, not one American weapon that has got into the hands has been supplied by the United States of America.”
“So the third provision says that we will, our policy is to reverse the momentum on the battlefield in favor of the Free Syrian Army. Now that momentum on the battlefield because of these five thousand Hezbollah and Iran, Russia and all that has been favoring Bashar al-Assad… I want to promise you there should be no boots on the ground,” McCain said ending his explanation of the resolution.
The majority of attendees, from all political persuasions, were unconvinced by his arguments. McCain then opened the meeting to questions.
“Here we are entertaining supplying arms to a fighting force that is twenty percent Al-Qaeda,” began one of the constituents to speak. “Now, if they are such a threat that they can void out our constitution (Patriot Act) before we entertain supplying arms, then our record on keeping track of the billions of dollars in Afghanistan and keeping track of the weapons are just horrible.”
He continued, “So until we can be assured that these weapons aren’t going to get to this entity (Al-Qaeda), I see it as aid and comfort to the enemy and I think before we even entertain that, repeal the Patriot Act because they are not that big of a threat.” The room began breaking out into monstrous applause as he wrapped up.
A Marine veteran, Brian Bates, who served in Afghanistan, confronted the Senator, “I am here to tell you I am completely opposed to military intervention. My reason – I do not believe we can differentiate between the good and the bad guys… We need to stay out of there…”
Mixed into the comments and questions were a few Syrian immigrants who were passionate about their hate of Assad and support American intervention in Syria. They were mostly wearing shirts that said, “Assad Must Go.” Their heartfelt comments and moral outrage were moving, but did not convince the crowd.
“We had boots on the ground in Benghazi and look what happened there,” a woman in the back said. “The response was what does it matter how they died? And there has been no response to that, and I think there is a correlation. If a plane was shot down in Syria, how do we know that our leader would go and get those people?”
One gentleman brought up the idea that the rebels used the chemical weapons to blame Assad and gain U.S. military support. McCain responded that the reason Assad used chemical weapons was because the Free Syrian Army, or FSA, took over a strategic part of Damascus which was necessary for Assad’s communications and transportation. Assad had attempted to take this area but the rebels were so well entrenched, he was forced to resort to chemical warfare. According to McCain, this is why Assad may have used the weapons.
The room was full of tension and strong opinions on both sides, but aside from a couple Occupy Tucson hecklers, it was full of mutual respect. Judging by the comments, it seems Southern Arizonans want no part in going to war with Syria, and Senator McCain heard that loud and clear.
One Syrian-American lady opposed Assad and intervention in Syria. Her comments were directed to the other Syrians present, “To quote JFK, in the past those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”
McCain responded with the age-old quote, “Those who forget the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them.” The crowd broke out in laughter mixed with shouting at the irony of McCain’s statement.
Two men from Syria held their hands up through the meeting. McCain seemed to deliberately ignore them. Had they been given the chance, they would have shared very different views of Syria and why the vast majority of Syrians oppose American intervention.
According to the men, intervention could have serious consequences that McCain seems eager to ignore. They believe that Assad and the rebels represent two distinct evils and should the United States succeed in weakening Assad, he will surely be replaced by Al Qaeda.
They came to urge McCain to consider a political option and focus on diplomacy. McCain’s mind is set, and the men and countless other Syrians in the U.S. and abroad watch helplessly as our leaders move closer to a war from which their families might not escape.
The same scene played out in Phoenix earlier in the day. Almost all of the supporters of a Syrian bombing attended both the Phoenix and Tucson town halls.
One Christian Syrian woman, who attended the Phoenix town hall, said she was loyal to McCain for years, implored the senator to save Syria but not through bombs.
A Muslim woman, who had attended both town halls, urged McCain in Tucson to proceed with the bombings.