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The U.S. Has Options to Help End the Carnage in Syria
(Washington Post) Editorial - A deeply disturbing report about the situation in Syria was delivered Monday to the UN Security Council by Navi Pillay, the high commissioner for human rights. The regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to murder unarmed civilians, including children, in large numbers. Some 200 have died since Dec. 2, Ms. Pillay said; she estimated that more than 5,000 have been killed overall, including more than 300 children. Military and security forces have "received orders to shoot unarmed protesters without warning," she said. "Inaction by the international community" is emboldening the regime and encouraging it to continue the slaughter. The Security Council has yet to pass a resolution about Syria, thanks to resistance from Russia and China; the Arab League, which suspended Syria last month and threatened tough sanctions, is now prevaricating. If Western military action is off the table for now, it is time for the administration and its allies to consider other steps. While the administration rightly has urged the Syrian opposition to remain peaceful, if civil war is inevitable, it is in the United States' interest for that war to end as quickly as possible with the defeat of Mr. Assad.