RALPH PETERS: Well, because it’s the most phenomenally stupid misuse of our military I’ve ever seen. No one in this administration has been able to explain what tangible vital security interest we have in Syria or in stopping this fighting. This military demonstration — and that’s what it’s going to be — is about Obama shooting off his mouth about red lines and chemical weapons. Now he feels he has to do something. He doesn’t want to do too much, he doesn’t want to do too little. He’s not thinking through the potential consequences, and I see no, no way, Bill, in which a military attack on Syria is worth it for the United States or will end well. …

PETERS: And they have their own agendas. The Saudis back the Salafists. The Turks and Qataris back the Muslim Brotherhood. This is complex and byzantine. It’s a local fight, a civil war, a family feud, and, you know, cops don’t like getting in the middle of family feuds. To just back it up just a little bit, again what is our vital security interest? WMD? I abhor the use of chemical weapons. It’s correct that they’re forbidden. They should be, they must be. But Assad’s enemies are al-Qaeda and its franchises who’ve killed tens if not hundreds of thousands of Muslims at this point. And what’s the choice? Is it better to be tortured to death by al-Qaeda, be burned alive in your Christian church by al-Qaeda or to be gassed? By the way, I’m still not completely sure the Assad regime was behind the gas attack.