nearly everyone agrees the nature of the problem in syria. the question of what to do about it is all about tools.
if you have a bolt and a nut you want to screw onto it, is a hammer useful to you? is a piece of string useful?
you need to figure the tool that might work.
instead of considering whether to use missiles against syria, the houses of congress should try to discover if anyone can think of a tool that might work to solve the problem.
instead they are saying - we have a hammer. should we use it to try to screw the nut on the syrian bolt? the prestige of the us depends on it.
the answer to that question is no. but it doesn't make the question disappear. how do you solve the syrian problem, which isn't a question of us prestige but one of human suffering.
and anyway, shouldn't the prestige of the us depend upon how thoughtful it is about finding a tool that works? doesn't "the greatest country on earth" want to earn its prestige through wisdom rather than power?
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