Stay OUT of Syria; stop ignoring the crises in our own backyard

Obama and a yet another war?

 I'm still trying to figure out how, strictly speaking, Syria's civil war -- between a brutal dictator on one hand, and al-Qaida led rebels on the other -- is a matter of our national security. 

It's like trying to pick which devil to back based on which has the shorter horns. In this case, it smacks of a lost, confused "leadership" trying to restore its "rep" by throwing around its military might, as if that will somehow restore its lost morality.

I'd like to see us get out of Afghanistan sooner than later, NOT get into Syria at all, and pay more attention to crime, employment and health issues in our own hemisphere. 

If we're looking to pour blood, treasure and compassion into a "cause," we have only to look at our inner cities, and our neighbors to the south.

We need to keep our treaty obligations to Israel, the only true democratic republic in the Middle East. We do NOT need to be the world's policeman and nanny, getting involved in sectarian civil wars, or trying to impose our form of government on societies with no history of, or affinity for this Western concept.

Humanitarian aid? Absolutely. Food. Medicine. Help with developing new markets.

But when will we learn that when it comes to the Middle East, removing one monster only makes room for another?