This attack on Syria could cause a drastic drop in American arrogance. I've been thinking about what life would be like if our electrical grid were successfully brought down by al-Assad. The world has changed and we haven't. You know, penny wise, pound foolish.

I think you meant to say 1988 instead of "In 1998, Barack Obama was in law school."

Remember the famous Rumsfeld, Saddam handshake photo? (Rummy was trying to get a pipeline deal for Bechtel.) Read all about it here: http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSA…

Our goals in the Middle East, like the former British colonial rulers who drew their nations' borders in impossibly straight lines and made countries cut across tribes, has been divide and conquer. Having Arabs fight to a draw would have been considered ideal, but having one win and conquer and unite...well.

are you telling me that there's a difference between reagan's administration and obama's?

Eli,
I haven't read the article yet. I shall. But, if this article is a dig at the Reagan Administration then fine. That however, will not solve Pres. Obama's dilemma regarding air strikes against Syria for using chemical weapons now. At this point, it may be too late to do anything. Russia most certainly will have something to say if we do strike.

Pres. Obama is our President. He'll have to render critical decisions based on his predecessors' choices and intelligence available just like Reagan. For better or for worse.

Poppycock! if Obama and his neocon friends didn't want to attack Syria, they wouldn't do it. Reading the Economist will rot your brain.

This is not the same situation and we are not helping Assad gas his civilian population.

This is horrible, but it is also something we cannot "fix" - we can remoe Assad but we cannot replace him with ourselves or expect th vacuum to be filled by democrats.

@2: Thanks, fixed.

Are you just figuring this out now Eli?



@10
Yea we should totally be flying CAS for Al Qaeda because Dear Leader Barack says Assad is BAAAAAAD.

WWIII is totally worth it.

Every day your stupidity increases exponentially