Syria and the Common American

As an exceptional country, i.e. as the worlds premier super power, one who has the financial and military support to act with its own volition, we are obligated to choose.

1.  The issue is like any major geopolitical issue: super complex, existing in the chaotic and unpredictable environment of a multi-faceted connected globe.  We have personal, economic, treaty and organizational, governmental and other types of connections, all of which provide their own pressure on decisions.  The consequences of actions cannot be forecast a year out, say nothing of what ultimately could result decades hence, so pretending to know what is the best course of action is folly.

2.  As an exceptional nation, what ARE our guiding principles?  What's right?  What's in it for US?  Our global reputation, noting that the same decision labels us both true to our word (we act when we say we will) and an interventionist state, meddling in other's affairs?  What do we do when those principles contradict each other?

As a regular American, trying to understand even the broad scope, immediate issues are time consuming.  What evidence have I SEEN that tells me it was the government and not the rebels who used gas?  How much do I trust the intelligence and government message versus what could be a ruse by the rebels to incite anti-(Syrian)government sentiment from America?  What are the implications of different types of punitive actions?  How do they jibe with my view of what I want for America?  Again, I haven't even tried to predict the future eventualities of just one of those, when there are scores of different tacks we could take.

What's clear is there is no obvious rights or wrongs among the possible reasonable actions our nation could take.  And how much muddier it gets when a person IS actually able to immerse themselves in the morass of historical president, regional history both ancient and recent, international law and convention, analysis if similar actions in many different scenarios that have played out over the last hundred years...  Those simpletons who are holding their signs have almost as much "right" to their say as the Middle Eastern Policy Specialist within the governments of prominent states, professors of foreign policy at the world's premier universities, and the heads of state, themselves.

In the end, I go with the most underlying principal:  I believe our country should act in the moment with our best knowledge, to be able to wake up the next day with no regrets, being able to say, "We did what we thought was best regardless of what anyone else thinks."