MSNBC’s Morning Joe panel on Friday lambasted President Obama’s refusal to take greater action in the Syrian civil war as "immoral," arguing for the establishment of safe zones to protect civilians from being slaughtered by Bashar al-Assad.
The Washington Post’s David Ignatius was on the panel discussing his new article on Assad’s continued use of chemical weapons, based on a report from May 2 in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Host Joe Scarborough said one answer to the conflict is for the United States to establish safe zones inside Syria to shelter civilians.
"There actually is a good answer, and that is having a president that knows how to rally the international community to actually go in and find a safe haven for the millions of Syrian refugees that are scattered across the globe, causing destabilization across the Middle East, causing destabilization across Europe, crossing destabilization across the world, many of whom want to go home," Scarborough said in an apparent swipe at Obama.
"You’re telling me that the United States of America and Britain and France and Germany and the United Nations and NATO are too weak to build a safe zone and enforce a safe zone in Syria?" Scarborough asked. "And tell Assad and [the Islamic State], ‘We‘re not fighting you in any war, but you come close to this safe zone, we will liquefy you.’"
Safe zones have been a contentious issue in the debate over what the United States should do in Syria. Many analysts have called for the United States to lead an international effort to create safe havens under the auspice of existing U.N. Security Council resolutions that call for unfettered humanitarian access into Syria, to stem the migrant crisis across the Middle East and Europe. Proponents argue safe zones could also allow the United States to better train opposition forces to fight ISIS and possibly the Assad regime.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called for the establishment of safe zones, as has Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, Ignatius pointed out to Scarborough.
President Obama dismissed the idea of creating safe zones as "mumbo jumbo" and "half-baked ideas" while calling congressional criticism of his Syria policy "horseshit." The administration has reportedly not moved to create these havens out of fear of a potential U.S. military escalation in Syria.
Scarborough continued to criticize the president for not doing more.
"Let me just say, it was immoral when 50,000 Syrians were killed and we did nothing and 100,000 Syrians were killed and we did nothing. And Assad crossed the red line and we did nothing and 200,000 Syrians were killed and we have done nothing," Scarborough said.
470,000 people have been killed since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, according to one recent estimate. Millions more have been driven from their homes.
"It is immoral to not create a safe zone, like Hillary Clinton and I’m sure [Sen. John] McCain and a lot of other Republicans would support, protect it with a no-fly zone," Scarborough said.
"You and Secretary Clinton have it right. I think watching this again and again and again, it’s immoral," Ignatius said.
"This president has been wringing his hands since 10,000 Syrians were killed. He was wringing his hands when 50,000 Syrians were slaughtered, wringing his hands when 100,000 Syrians were slaughtered. He‘s still wringing his hands," Scarborough said.
"And the single biggest failing of Barack Obama’s foreign policy from the point of view of his allies around the world was that saying he was going to enforce a red line and failing to do it and abandoning Syrians," BBC reporter Katty Kay added.
President Obama announced in 2012 that if Assad used chemical weapons it would change his "calculus" in Syria and would constitute a red line for him, adding that the U.S. military had prepared contingency plans for such an event.
When the United Nations reported in 2013 that Assad had used chemical weapons against his own people and killed thousands, Obama chose not to act.
Late last year, one senior U.S. official described the use of chemical weapons inside Syria as "routine."