Listen - I think we ought to give Syria a shot that knocks it back and makes the leaders think "Damn! No more chemical weapons." .
Blow up the Palace, the Army Headquarters, the City Hall... whatever. But we aren't in their civil war.
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We cannot "win". There is no "winning" for us. No matter what!
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The current President Assad kills civilians, so he sucks. So we lose if he stays in power.
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The opposition will wreak havoc on the minorities that have been power forever + they are a little to jihadist for us. So we lose if they gain power.
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Assad's allies are Hezbollah and Iran - so if Assad transfers power and leaves peacefully, then these guys come to power and they will step up attacks on Israel. So we lose (Be real, Israel is one of the few things our government cares about in the MidEast, now that we have fracking.)
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Repeat after me (as they say in French class: répéter) There is no option where "we" win.
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Because it isn't a USA fight. The best we can do is hope to get them to stop using chemical weapons on civilians. Because it is wrong, evil and actually a war crime. (After water-boarding by the Cheney/Bush administration, I wouldn't push that whole "war crime" thing too much though....)