Wants and Warrants

Bashar al Assad wants to retain power in Syria. Iran wants Assad to continue to rule and is using force to keep Assad afloat. Russia wants to diminish US influence across the Levant. Most of the Syrian people at this point want their despot gone. The West wants Assad removed. If Assad can be proven to have authorized the use of chemical weapons, there will likely be an International Criminal Court warrant issued for his arrest as a war criminal. The United States though should pause long and hard before using force on the ground to detain Assad, because as Iraq proved, even after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Americans, our allies, and innocent Iraqis continued to die and the removal of the dictator did not increase stability.