Obama's Strikes on Syria to Be 'Just Muscular Enough Not to Be Mocked'

And, I couldn’t even write that headline without LOLing. How will the mullahs and Assad react?

Some experts said U.S. warships and submarines in the eastern Mediterranean could fire cruise missiles at Syrian targets as early as Thursday night, beginning a campaign that could last two or three nights. Obama leaves next Tuesday for a four day trip to Sweden and Russia, which strongly supports Assad’s government, for the G-20 economic summit.

One U.S. official who has been briefed on the options on Syria said he believed the White House would seek a level of intensity “just muscular enough not to get mocked” but not so devastating that it would prompt a response from Syrian allies Iran and Russia.

So this is the standard for demonstrations of US military might now? Throw a few million-dollar missiles around and hope that our enemies don’t openly mock us?

Newsflash: If Assad survives the strikes, and he will because he isn’t even a target, then he will stand on some rubble somewhere and declare that he has “defeated the United States.” That constitutes mocking.

There are often cases where limited strikes can and do work. Syria doesn’t strike me as such a case. When it comes to a conflict like this, a civil war in which both sides are our enemies, you should either go in strong enough to destroy one side and dictate the terms to the other, or shouldn’t go in at all.

h/t Ace of Spades