"Red Line Has Been Crossed" In Syria, Rogers Says

[RiverNoord]

5. No - that's the thing the GOP does best, but..

this situation is different. If we knew, really knew, what was coming in Rwanda, for example, should we have stopped it? The Syrian civil war is a god-awful mess, with the growing possibility of at least a partial end in sight. The thing that worries us most about it is the presence of basically professional mercenaries motivated by extreme religious beliefs among the rebels. They're there and they're some of the best fighters in the conflict. The vast majority of the rebels don't share their beliefs, but they have been desperate and seen the value of their battle prowess.

Chemical weapons use or not, the ugliness of the short-term outcome of this conflict is something we may be able to mitigate substantially. There will be reprisal massacres, and they won't be moderate in scope. We may be able to prevent some of the worst of them, and possibly prevent the country from going the way of (yes I recognize the irony) of Iraq. If it is possible for us to do it, I believe we should.