Today's commentary on impending US belligerence

U.S. Army Soldiers of Regimental Higher Headquarters Troop, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Tennessee Army National Guard participate in training, Dec. 12, 2009, in preparation for a scheduled deployment to Iraq...Photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Klika )

Here's Soonergrunt, retired US Army/Army National Guard.

So Assad most likely used chemical weapons against his people in Syria.  Well, that’s bad.  It’s pretty fucking horrifying, actually, but those people are no more dead than the people who’ve been killed with bullets, bombs, rockets, and whatever else was at hand.  It is only in the minds of people who’ve never seen incoming that this matters.  Dead people are dead people and every weapon system ever devised including thrown rocks has lasting effects beyond the immediate strike.

My children have never known war, hunger, or want.  But they live with the after effects of war every day of their lives.  I submit to you all that barring some major threat to US National Security that can only be reduced or eliminated by American military action, that we shouldn’t be doing that to people, and we shouldn’t help others do that to people.

All the more reason why a President should not make war on his own say-so, especially when polls show strong majority opposition and no debate has taken place.