The War President

From the New York Times;

 President Obama abruptly changed course on Saturday and postponed a military strike against the Syrian government in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack so he could seek authorization first from a deeply skeptical Congress.

...“I’m prepared to give that order,” Mr. Obama said in a hurriedly organized appearance in the Rose Garden as American destroyers armed with Tomahawk missiles waited in the Mediterranean Sea. “But having made my decision as commander in chief based on what I am convinced is our national security interests, I’m also mindful that I’m the president of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy.” 

Should we attack the Syrian government?  Punish them for their murder?

The only honest answer that I can come up with is that I don't know. Anyone who says they can predict what will happen is misguided at best, and an ideologue at worst. Rawanda or Kosovo, Libya or Iraq; we can make historical references till we run out of breath, but in the end the future in unknowable. We are the most powerful country in the world, and as such have taken our role as hegemon to intervene militarily many times - for good and for bad. I have no CIA briefings to go on, no DoD snakes whispering lies in my ear, no secret footage of Assad's forces pushing the button or otherwise. How can I know? How can anyone know, the President included?

Don't believe anyone who says they know. Period. Arguments can be made, predictions cast, but there are no good options here, and Obama could have decided to attack or ignore the situation without consulting anyone; such is the ungodly power of the President these days. But he has chosen to honor the principles of the this country as it was founded. Though the rules of war have been violated by Presidents time and time again, he has stuck with the rules of the flag, tattered and torn they may be. Whatever the result, I can only say one thing, as someone who is as proud to be an American citizen as I ever have;

Bravo Mr. President.