This debate is stupid. No one understands what is going on in modern geopolitics of the middle east -- including policy czars, and especially your or I. Probably not even the US government. These are gigantic state sponsored operations with foreign governments (e.g Russia), militant organizations.
As an example -- consider that ISIS was shipping ~$160 million in crude oil via smuggling routes to China. Even with all our power, it is not trivial to track such things.
What I am saying is that there are interests here that are enormous and impossible to understand.. some not even based upon nation-state and totally a-political.
The fact that you believe you have a definitive assessment regarding the gas attacks reveals your naivete.
Take a look at the history of the Assad regime and how we destabilized the region by funding his opposition. Take a look at the history of Egypt or Libya over the past 40 years. One day Gadaffi was an American hero, the next day we are cheering for his downfall. Sensationalist stories of rape/murder/torture being spread through the media. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
This is all to say -- neither of us really knows what we are talking about. But you seem to have a very "good vs. evil" approach to the world that is naive at best.
No one understands what is going on in modern geopolitics of the middle east...
We in USA don't actually have to understand conditions in other nations. We just have to pay attention to our government and media, and remember what they've done even after they've stopped talking about it. They lied us into war with Spain, which led to decades of murder and oppression of Puerto Ricans and (especially) Filipinos. They lied us into WWI, which led to the Nazis. They lied us into Vietnam, which caused millions of deaths in southeast Asia. They lied us into Kuwait, which caused 9/11. They lied us into Afghanistan, in which USA soldiers are now dying who weren't yet born when the lies were told. They lied us into Iraq, which has seen horrific loss of life oh and also the creation of ISIS. They lied us into Libya, which peaceful prosperous nation was replaced in six months by a smoldering hellscape, complete with slave markets. They lied us somewhat into Syria, where we and our ISIS allies were (thank God) defeated. They tried to lie us into Iran...
(This is not even to mention the dozens of nations whose elected governments we've deposed in favor of authoritarians in spooky ways, at least as long ago as 1953 in Iran, as murderously as 1965-7 in Indonesia, and as recently as last year in Bolivia.)
Gosh, what can we conclude from this fairly consistent history? I submit that when we're fed some pretext for war, we should assume it's a lie and oppose the war for which it is told. If we're ever able to do so consistently (and perhaps the last two entries in the list above are cause for hope?), it will result in a greater global flowering of peace and prosperity than we've ever seen before.
As an example -- consider that ISIS was shipping ~$160 million in crude oil via smuggling routes to China. Even with all our power, it is not trivial to track such things.
What I am saying is that there are interests here that are enormous and impossible to understand.. some not even based upon nation-state and totally a-political.
The fact that you believe you have a definitive assessment regarding the gas attacks reveals your naivete.
Take a look at the history of the Assad regime and how we destabilized the region by funding his opposition. Take a look at the history of Egypt or Libya over the past 40 years. One day Gadaffi was an American hero, the next day we are cheering for his downfall. Sensationalist stories of rape/murder/torture being spread through the media. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Look at the sort of stuff we spread during the Gulf War: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony
This is all to say -- neither of us really knows what we are talking about. But you seem to have a very "good vs. evil" approach to the world that is naive at best.