The gaffe heard ‘round the world: “What is Aleppo?”
Gary Johnson’s struggling for votes. The libertarian presidential candidate didn’t reach the 15% in national polls he needed to make the live presidential debates featuring Trump and Clinton, depriving him of the large audience he needs to get his campaign moving.
However, he did score a live television interview with MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle in early September. When asked about how he would handle the situation in Aleppo (a Syrian city focal to the ongoing civil war), he responded with another question: “What is Aleppo?”
“You’re serious,” the bemused interviewer responded.
Media outlets all over the country jumped over Gary’s flub, most arguing Johnson had demonstrated inexcusable ignorance over one of the largest foreign crises our nation faces today. Articles discouraging voters from Johnson and clips of the embarrassing moment flew around the web. Even Stephen Colbert (in classic deadpan fashion) delivered a blistering roast, blasting Johnson as unfit for the Oval Office. Johnson further complicated things for himself when he failed to name a single foreign leader he admired during an MSNBC town hall, dubbing it an "Aleppo moment".
I didn’t know much more than Gary Johnson about Aleppo when I watched him slip up on TV. I suspect most of the people I know are the same situation- we’ve been confronted with an incredibly important election, but the average American mindset isn’t informed enough to make good judgments about the issues our candidates are discussing. We should take steps to destroy that trend and learn about cities like Aleppo, not bask in our own ignorance as our nation teeters on this catastrophic election.
So I decided to do some research.
Ten years ago, the ancient metropolis of Aleppo was the most populous governorate in Syria. A center of middle-eastern and Islamic culture, Aleppo boasted a rich landscape and a skyline home to the proud old Citadel, one of the oldest and largest castles in the world.
A skyline now choked by dust and ash, sliced through with gunfire from Syrian rebels, Kurdish fighters and government forces. And in the midst of all the chaos, those caught in the crossfire also have the threat of ISIS, the radical terrorist group that has transformed Syria into a hellish warzone.
This past week, 338 were killed in bombardments from Syria and Russia inside the city. A hundred of those casualties were children. In fact, much of the two governments’ targets have been civilian facilities—hospitals and schools were victims of their bombings as well, leading to the death toll this week. This past Tuesday, a brutal airstrike struck a building housing four families, decimating their home into a mound of rubble. Today (Sunday) pro-regime forces attacked the civilian al-Kindi hospital in northern Aleppo while shelling and bombardment continued in the rebel-held eastern part of the city.
The savagery inflicted upon Aleppo is just one example of the destruction done by Russia, government forces and other militant groups all across Syria. With conflict of this scale and brutality brewing in the Middle East, it’s clear this will present a massive foreign policy challenge to whoever fills Barack Obama’s chair next year. And how we choose that person is just as important as who we choose, is it not?
And if that’s the case, forget Gary—we shouldn’t be allowing ourselves “Aleppo moments” either, should we?
