Maggie's Farm

Yes, in recent times presidents have done this TWICE before with bad consequences in both cases: Bush in Iraq and Obama in Libya. Both times, the US acted to remove a strongman and the result was worse chaos than before. Obama's Libya adventure, in particular, was the height of hypocrisy since it came after years of the Leftists in this country hysterically criticizing Bush for getting us involved in Iraq.

Many people have been urging the US to intervene in Syria in the midst of the ongoing religious war between the Sunnis and Alawite Shi'ites, some of them offering pretty decent arguments (e.g., David P. Goldman, aka Spengler). However, I cannot see how any involvement by the US in a geopolitical proxy war in Syria would turn out well for us. If one of the problems in Syria is the mischief being created there by Iran, then IMO the better course of action for Obama would be to deal directly with Iran's sponsorship of world terrorism. Indeed, one might even suspect the devious Iranians of setting a trap for us in Syria, hoping to distract us for awhile to give them time to complete their nuclear development program. If you think about it, that's a strategy that's right out of Obama's own campaign playbook.