The following is from editorial the Seattle Times:
The United States is under no obligation to take the lead in another military intervention, and should not.
Others have the capacity to respond to the suspected chemical attacks in Syria that have roused the international community.
President Barack Obama has been chatting up foreign leaders, and meeting with administration advisers on how to proceed. The best advice is to step aside and let the French, British and Germans punish the Bashar Assad regime as they see fit.
Syria has been in a heightened state of turmoil since 2011. A brutal taxonomy of religious groups, internal rebels and regional foes are challenging the Assad family dictatorship.
The rebels, coalitions and militias hate one another with the same zeal they loathe the brutal ruling authority in Damascus. A suspected chemical strike outside of the capital is getting special attention after repeated reports of similar attacks.
The U.S. and its presumed confederates in a response have no real clue who is doing what to whom, or who among the rebel groups ought to prevail and be in charge.
The U.S. should take sides? With whom? This innate lack of understanding of the local political, social and religious environment has haunted U.S. intentions and presumptions repeatedly.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is aligned with Syria's dictatorship says that use of force without a sanction by the U.N. Security Council is a crude violation of international law.
A sanction, if sought, would certainly be vetoed by the Russians.
If the international community, which has been a spectator of this rebellion for two years, wants to punish Syria, then let them organize and act.
The United States can mull its recent history in the Middle East and contemplate an exit from Afghanistan. Demonstrate the restraint of lessons learned.