To: John Dickerson & Mary Hager, Moderator & Executive Producer
.@FaceTheNation, @jdickerson: Allow Pro-Diplomacy Voices on Syria
Just Foreign Policy
CBS' Face the Nation should invite foreign policy experts who support diplomacy to end the Syrian civil war to balance voices demanding U.S. military escalation.
Why is this important?
On Sunday, November 29th, CBS' Face the Nation broadcast a program to their 3 million viewers focused on foreign policy. Host John Dickerson interviewed three Republican presidential candidates as well as Sen. John McCain about Middle East foreign policy and followed that with a debate of some of the issues with a panel of “experts”.
Yet, the panel had hardly any diversity of opinion, only different shades of hawkish ideology. As Glenn Greenwald noted, “All of the panelists...were vocal, aggressive advocates of the invasion of Iraq”. [1] So it is unsurprising that no panelist challenged the claim that US military escalation is necessary to resolve the Syrian crisis; indeed, the “debate” partially focused on the obstacles in convincing the American people that intervention is the right path. [2]
There are qualified war skeptic, pro-diplomacy experts that Face the Nation could invite to challenge interventionists and, thereby, give the American people both sides. For example, Rep. Jim Himes, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee and initiated a letter with 54 other members of Congress supporting the Obama administration's diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian war, would be a great choice. [3]
Urge Face the Nation to invite war-skeptic, pro-diplomacy experts to discuss diplomatic solutions to the Syria crisis by signing our petition.
References:
1. https://theintercept.com/2015/11/29/what-debate-means-on-face-the-nation/
2. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcripts-november-29-2015-carson-bush-mccain-and-graham/
3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/rep-jim-himes--54-house-d_b_8222622.html; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/to-help-syrians-back-real_b_8474446.html
Yet, the panel had hardly any diversity of opinion, only different shades of hawkish ideology. As Glenn Greenwald noted, “All of the panelists...were vocal, aggressive advocates of the invasion of Iraq”. [1] So it is unsurprising that no panelist challenged the claim that US military escalation is necessary to resolve the Syrian crisis; indeed, the “debate” partially focused on the obstacles in convincing the American people that intervention is the right path. [2]
There are qualified war skeptic, pro-diplomacy experts that Face the Nation could invite to challenge interventionists and, thereby, give the American people both sides. For example, Rep. Jim Himes, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee and initiated a letter with 54 other members of Congress supporting the Obama administration's diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian war, would be a great choice. [3]
Urge Face the Nation to invite war-skeptic, pro-diplomacy experts to discuss diplomatic solutions to the Syria crisis by signing our petition.
References:
1. https://theintercept.com/2015/11/29/what-debate-means-on-face-the-nation/
2. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcripts-november-29-2015-carson-bush-mccain-and-graham/
3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/rep-jim-himes--54-house-d_b_8222622.html; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/to-help-syrians-back-real_b_8474446.html