Sir, – Irishwoman Samantha Power, President Obama’s new nominee as UN ambassador, faces a daunting challenge in her new role if and when confirmed by the US Senate (World News, June 6th).
Ms Power wrote her Pulitzer prize-winning book A Problem from Hell (2003) about the American response to genocide and mass atrocities because she says, "The United States decisions to act or not to act have had a greater impact on the victims' fortunes than those of any other major power". The then Senator Obama was so impressed with her book that he asked her to come and work for him, in 2005.
President Obama, since declaring in August 2011 that Syrian President Assad should go, has done virtually nothing to support the Syrian opposition in that regard .The Free Syrian Army is lightly armed in contrast to a regime which has an ongoing supply of scud missiles,“barrel bombs” dropped from helicopters which cause maximum death and destruction on the civilian population, and a huge arsenal of Russian-supplied armaments (unaffected by the EU arms embargo).
Both Human Rights Watch and the UN Commission of Inquiry have stated again in recent days that government forces have committed crimes against humanity and widespread and systemic human rights violations. Both organisations condemn atrocities on both sides, but acknowledge that the extent of violations perpetrated by government forces is much larger than those on the opposition side.
Defending the decision to establish a no-fly zone to prevent atrocities in Libya, Ms Power stated that failure to do so would have been "extremely chilling, deadly and indeed a stain on our collective conscience."(University of Columbia March 2011, New York Times). It remains to be seen how Ms Power, if confirmed as UN ambassador, will address the shameful inaction of the US and international community on Syria. – Yours, etc,
VALERIE HUGHES,
Cabra Road, Dublin 7.