The fact is, America has no national interests to protect in Syria. The Syrian outcome would make no difference, whether good or bad. So the smartest thing would be for the US to remain neutral, and let Syrians work out their own problems.

The arrogance of power in Washington prevents Obama from understanding that military force doesn’t solve all problems. Fortunately, there are many good military officers in the Pentagon who already know this from hard experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even Vietnam. They learned a lesson that Obama seems incapable of learning.