Assad is a no-good SOB. The rebels are jihadists, al-Qaeda types. Best we should follow George Washington's founding principle and stay out of this fight. We've nothing to achieve but higher fuel costs and endless lines at the gas pump from bombing anyone in that region.

@Vet... so what? You only speak for you own service, not your fellow servicemen, not your branch of service, or for the Pentagon, etc... The US hasn't won 1 decent war since fighting my people the Germans. Korea? Stalemate. Vietnam? Loss. Small fights with Third World nations of no significance- lots! Operation Eagle Claw rescue of American hostages in Iran? Failure. Lebanon USMC barracks in '86? Blown to bits. ODS, a technical win but Hussein still in power and 11 years of firing on US aircraft over No-Fly Zone and led to OIF, which is a failure with a garrison still in place in a nation that will be toppled by Iranian and Al-Qaida pressure when the troops leave. No prevention of 9/11 with 3000 lives lost and STILL no guarantee of protection with a similar event 12 years later!!! Afghanistan- another loss. And Obama has failed to honor his promise of aiding the Rebels in Syria as Assad MASSACRES his citizens in front of the West and the world going on a third year even crossing the Redline of chemical weapons use. More than 200,000+ have died and up to 5 million displaced (official lower figures are false due to being unreliable and not counting displacement within the nation). All credible threats from Iran and N Korea as well as military cyber-espionage by China are unmet by the US. Superpower on paper only. Little Israel is making the strikes on missiles meant for Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. At least the Israelis recognize the danger to THEIR people and do something about it. And Russia is no joke either with nuke weapons dominance to the US 2.5:1. You can't laugh that doomsday scenario off. So Vet, your _opinion_ means little to me. What did you do with the REST of your life??? You would think family and charity would be higher priorities than mere conscripted military service. And if you volunteered, so what? Your choice. I have 3 nephews, all US Army, that joined due to lack of real work in the good old USA and one served 3 tours in Iraq as SF and now is back home on meds and divorced. The second served 2 tours in Afghanistan as sniper and regrets being there. The third was safe as mil air traffic controller for S Korea and is back home. The 2 that saw action hated their deployments to those nations and both count the US presence there as losses. And what about the illegality of GITMO and the countless other foreign locations the US uses to detain people w/o trial and the torture of those individuals? If you say it is for national defense then the Nazi SS and Gestapo had the right to torture for the same reason. There are a lot of people in the US (civilian alike) that would like to put to death ALL Islamists. That's eerily like Nazi Germany in the 1930s. So again, thanks for your unwarranted "opinion."

Btw Vet, although never serving, I have definately had, borrowed, trained with, and fired more arms than you ever have including: pistol (wheel), pistol (auto), TMP, SMG, assault rifle (sporter and mil), bolt-action hunter, bolt-action mil vintage, bolt action full sniper, fired both LMGs and HMGs as well as GLs. And I have seen prototypes of many classified arms and been to US Army arms test facilities that you can't get into. So spare me your service whine. A simple arsenal of a Walther P-99QA .40 cal, a 7.92mm Mauser K98k w/4x scope, a Benelli Tactical Nova shotgun, and one 7.62mm full kit AK-series (incl MAK-90) with a drum... is fully capable of tackling a SWAT Team, even MILSWAT. A German set of weapons from WW2 (P-38, MP-40, STG-44, and a Panzerfaust) could equally do the same!!! It took the US two decades to get the M-16 "Jammin' Jenny" when the Germans had assault rifles of many types in WW2 (FG-42, STG-44, Gustloff VG Volkssturmgewehr). And today the Germans have the HK G-36 which the US wanted as XM-08, cancelled by Congress in 2006 to bail poor Colt out for a THIRD TIME!!! So, the US Army and Marines have to use the crappy M4 which is junk compared to the G-36 and HK 416s and 417s!!! Fact. And you can add black powder, edged weaponry, electrical weapons, and improvised to my list as well.

You write "my people the Germans." My people and I are Americans, no matter what our country of origin was. Some spilled blood, fighting your people.

I have a nephew on his way to Afghanistan. Risking his life in an unwinnable war. He leaves a good job, a house, and a pregnant girlfriend. I am not the praying kind, but I want him home safely. He is worth more than all the kings and presidents on this planet. For once, let's put America first. We have nothing to gain from this fight but corpses and higher fuel prices that won't allow the administration to even pretend there is a so-called "recovery". Things are grim where I'm at, a radioactive Middle East can only make things worse.

I am not against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, just the poor way they are being fought/lost and the lack of weapons needed to get the job done. My sniper nephew does not like the refurbished M21 and would like German or British replacement. My other nephew wonders WHY the US Army can't replace the M4 with the favored XM-08 or HK-416. SFs are using Belgian FN SCAR-Ls in 7.62mm and the HK-417 would be even better. If you wanna go American then WHY doesn't the Army pick up the Kriss Vector SMG and new stainless auto-shotgun for CQB? I see that they can't risk going to a new round size due to all the 5.56mm ammo in the world but 7.62mm is an option and some weapons can be modified to fire Red ammo in 7.62x39mm. Can't pick up an AK but could use the ammo!!! The Contractors have awesome pick of weapons, get paid much higher than soldiers, and dine on fine food while being protected by the best body armor in the world and being transported around in Smart Trucks with cannons and firing ports, computers, and anti-mob explosive door panels. It's a damn shame the US Army can't go German on small arms and vehicles b/c they are empirically better. If you doubt that do a reality check with the SEALs and other US SFs/HRUs that use HK weapons. Also take the GEFAS with anti-IED sensors and detonators offered for sale to the US, was rejected b/c it was German. Components of the IDZ Supersoldier Program offered to the US but were rejected b/c they were German... never mind that the US for 30 years has failed to deploy any Supersoldier fully integrated system. Germans deployed in the Balkans and then moved to Stage II and now the Gladius System working with aerospace EADS for the future soldier that will fight in a fully integrated electronic warfare environment and backed by autonomous combat robots and swarms of KKVs and drones led by a UCAD. Germany is well underway to bypass the Internet when it goes down with its Bundeswehr evolving Q-Net using quantum computers and anti-EMP devices/materials. And Germany spends just 1/10th of what the US spends on R&D. Same for Israel which maximizes every weapon it makes and also modifies US weapons for better performance. That's why they dominate their hostile neighbors and won't hesitate to use nukes if the Jewish State is in mortal danger. They took out Iraq's Osirik reactor, murdered Gerald Bull for trying to give Iraq a Supergun to fire chemical rounds on Israel, and is actively striking the Iranian missile shipments to Syria destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Just common sense the US lacks. Pre-emptive is the way to go and Obama is intimidated by Assad and Putin??? WTF??? If WE lived next to Syria the massacres would stop immediately. But Obama is gonna let Europe and Israel take action. I would think a couple of B-2s could wipe Assad out in a day or two- tops. Btw Patrick, I feel sorry for your nephew going to Afghanistan at this late stage. It's a hellhole and you can't trust the population at all- just like Vietnam. No place to hide in the barren landscape, so carpet-bombing does no good. And calling in drones takes time. The US doesn't belong in any nation where Islam is practiced or accepted. The highjackers of 9/11 were largely Saudis and we should have just taken out Mecca and Medina as reprisal. If the Islamic world would have went crazy then we should have just teamed-up Israel and Europe plus Turkey to conquer and assign oil fields to the victors. Look where US strategy has gotten us so far. Failed Iraq and failed Afghanistan. Hussein, Gadhafi, and Osama dead mean little. Just destabilization for the region and Al Qaida still determined to strike the US at whatever cost at a time of their choosing. The Germans already loop-holed restrictions and produced quantities of powdered anthrax since 2003. I guess that's the successor to Zyklon-C ;-)