Syria would seem to be a situation with no good options.  If we don’t intervene, there is every likelihood of a continuing civilian catastrophe.  If we do intervene, what can we really do?

I have no source of information other than news coverage.  I don’t know the bad guys from the good guys.  I suspect that the people in charge of our Syrian policy, while having more details of the destruction, have little more actionable information.

From the outside, it is apparent to me that the US policy establishment does not understand the Arab world.  We clearly broke Iraq.  While it is hard to argue that Saddam Hussein should have remained in power, it is not clear to me that the present situation can soon lead to a positive outcome.  In Egypt, we have few options, even fewer good options.  Afghanistan is clearly still a mess.

It may well be that this messy process in the Arab world is the only path forward as they sort out for themselves what they want to be.

Many times that hardest decision is to do nothing.  This seems to be where we are right now.  I think we need to not intervene, particularly, when such intervention is likely to exacerbate the mess.  All we can do is provide humanitarian assistant to the refugees and wring our hands.

John