Deal on Syria is good news for Obama

It is true that the deal could save Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. For the Syrian leader, the deal means that his country and army can avoid devastating US air strikes, strikes that might tilt the balance of the civil war toward the rebels and throw Syria into further chaos.

But the deal also means that Syrian civilians are spared from becoming collateral damage.

And with polls showing that the majority of US citizens oppose military action, the deal is also a win for Obama. The timely deal has given him a face-saving way out of his pursuit of domestically unpopular military action, a path he was forced to take in order to defend his statement that the use of chemical weapons would cross a red line.

Obama has said repeatedly that he wants to focus on the economy, jobs and education. Yet his intense lobbying for military action in the past weeks has left him little time for the issues that people in the US care about.

Also there is a high likelihood that if it did take military action, the US would be drawn into the Syrian civil war to secure its so-called national interests and prestige as a superpower.

And if the US became embroiled in another prolonged war like the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan, it could cost the US taxpayers another trillion dollars, at a time when the US national debt clock is ticking toward $17 trillion. That would be especially costly at this moment since the Obama administration may face a shutdown early next month if the Congress does not hammer out a spending plan for the next fiscal year.

Saturday's deal also means Obama can sidestep the global criticism for his disregard for international law and his bypassing the UN Security Council.

Weighing all these factors, it is clear that the Saturday deal and an ultimate political solution to the Syrian conflict is a good option for Assad, Obama, the Syrian people and all those who want peace and stability in that region and the world.

The author, based in Washington, is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 09/17/2013 page8)