Here We Go Again

Caution! You may experience an unsettling feeling of deja vu after reading this next story:

US secretary of state John Kerry has given an ultimatum to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to avoid a military strike by turning over his entire chemical weapons arsenal to the international community within the next week.

At a joint press conference with UK foreign secretary William Hague, Kerry said that America was not going to war but would launch an “unbelievably small and limited effort” to punish the Assad regime for the 21 August chemical weapons attack in Ghouta and to deter it from doing it again.

This is September, 2013 and not March, 2003 — I’m pretty sure. In fact, I know this time is different, because this time we don’t have two or three heavy divisions lining up on the border and a massive international coalition in place.

We do have a drone air force and a president who doesn’t hesitate much before using it, which could make this a very interesting operation if he should decide to go after Syria’s leadership.

Note that I said “interesting,” and not “good.”