Mr. Chair, this evening, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the speeches that we heard in this debate, and my colleagues on the government side will find me almost reassured. It is important that the entire community remain calm and avoid trying to be cowboy heroes who ride to the rescue, bring the massacre to an end and sort everything out in one fell swoop.
Whenever I hear the expression R2P, the responsibility to protect, I break out in a cold sweat. It makes me think of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Libya: there was a great success. There are still tanks blocking the airport in the capital and the problems are far from being resolved. It is important that we remain calm and restrained right to the end. This is how things will be resolved.
The only fear I have has nothing to do with what the international community is not doing, but rather with what might happen if it sends in troops. This would really sound the death knell for the Syrian people. They would be facing a real war and seeing their country destroyed and its infrastructure ravaged. That is the real danger. I hope that the members of the government will pursue the wise course they have followed until now.