So I asked my friends from Syria about my "I support intervention" stance.

[mike_c]

34. let's be clear-- I'd be very happy to see Assad deposed....

Nonetheless, the fact that we have sufficient might to accomplish that doesn't even begin to make it right. We are not the world's cop. In fact, we're signatory members of the international body that comes closest to actually being the world's cop, and any action we take should be taken as international partners through the U.N. And if the U.N. is too dysfunctional to act, then let's acknowledge that as a separate problem and work on fixing the U.N.

I do not support war for its own sake, and since Assad is no threat to us, we have no defensive stake in war with Syria, or even a limited attack against Syria. Attacking another country absent a direct case for self-defense is a war crime. As signatories of the U.N. Charter we have agreed to be bound by that convention, and we have acknowledged that as the correct international ethic. When we push around smaller, weaker nations just because it's easy, or because we want to extort something from them, or even because we seriously don't like them, we're betraying our own principles-- unless "might makes right" is our new international principle. For too many, I think, it is. Ironically, it's essentially Assad's position, too.

Until Assad's troops or missiles begin landing on U.S. soil, I will unequivocally oppose war with Syria. We are not the international judge, jury, and executioner.