We sure better hope not. It's far too late for that now. NATO and the US have dithered around so long now that the only outcome of the Syrian civil war will be a generation of self-immolation and a fractured, non-state which falls into a Somalia kind of chaos as different groups jockey for position and territory. There are so many different groups fighting Assad now, with so many different supporters and agendas, that a military involvement now at this late date couldn't help but result in another crushing defeat of the West.
Because of domestic considerations, mostly in the US and France, we never picked a winner and backed them to the hilt. Now, we don't know who to pick and run the risk of either backing the wrong group or of yielding to frustration and trying to do it ourselves.
Obama has had a pretty good foreign policy record up to this point, but in Syria, he's really fucked up....badly.
How has Obama messed this up. Syria's leadership and decision have caused the ruination of this country. "Syria's national production has dropped by 40% and the number of people living below the poverty line has risen from two million to five million in just two years, according to the man in charge of the UN's plans for reconstructing Syria after the conflict.
Russia is one of Syria's few remaining allies and a long-term arms supplier to the Assad regime. Over the years, in contracts worth billions of dollars, it has sold thousands of tanks, artillery units, aircraft, helicopters and defence systems to Damascus."
BBC News - Syria crisis: US rues Russian missiles sent to Damascus
I believe Assad is the one to blame here.
Assad may be to blame indirectly. After all, if it weren't for his rule, there would have been no rebellion to begin with.
But, once the rebellion started and Assad didn't conveniently step out of the way, we didn't know what to do. Even Obama isn't so blind that he can't see what happened in the aftermath of Libya and Egypt, and he's had the GOP riding his ass about both of those involvements since day one. Additionally, we can't afford to fight another war right now and there's just no public stomach for it.
So, we've basically done nothing, perhaps waiting for a "good" alternative to arise out of the opposition, but in the meantime, Iran and Russia have been actively engaged in prolonging the war by propping up Assad for their own reasons, none of which have anything to do with Assad himself. Now, we've got the Israeli's becoming VERY nervous and starting to take unilateral action.
I said when this war started that it had the potential to initiate WWIII and I stand by that statement. It's becoming more likely every day that a miscalculation or mistake by somebody could bring on a NATO/Russia or NATO/Iran-Russia-China confrontation at the drop of a hat.
This is probably the most volatile and dangerous situation we've seen in that part of the world since AT LEAST the Yom Kippur War when the world teetered on the brink of a nuclear holocaust.
