John McCain: Let’s Bomb Syria

A big-name Republican senator said that the US should start organizing airstrikes against Syria in order to force President Bashar Assad out of power. You know him, I know him. 2008 presidential hopeful John McCain.

Granted, Syria has not been what you might call “cooperative” lately with, well, pretty much anyone. The violence, particularly in the city of Homs, has been decried by the Obama administration and its European and Arab partners. Sen. John McCain made his plea on the Senate floor, coincidentally as the US and European governments pleaded with Vladimir Putin of Russian to renege his anti-interventionist stance on Syria.

“The only realistic way to do so is with foreign airpower,” McCain said. “The United States should lead an international effort to protect key population centers in Syria, especially in the north, through airstrikes on Assad’s forces.”

McCain’s comments are pulling double duty here. Not only are his words a veiled criticism of the Obama administration, as the senator has said before that the president is too soft on Assad, they are also a war cry for international military intervention in the middle east. McCain and his party’s senior member on the Senate Armed Services Committee have also opined that the US should change its policies, starting with the arming Syria’s rebels and spearheading a military effort to support them.

If McCain’s wishes are granted, we could be looking at the globalization of the War on Terror.

How many wars do you think we need to get wrapped up in?