I pick on the American left because it is liberal and because that suggests empathy, concern and internationalism. The American right is now going through one of its periodic bouts of lunacy, reverting to a comfy isolationism-cum-selfishness that has often characterized it. (I should note, though, that back in the late 1930s, Norman Thomas, the six-time socialist presidential candidate, supported the isolationist America First movement.) Still, I look to liberals to make common cause with the underprivileged, the unfortunate and the weak. If that doesn’t describe the people of Syria, then what does? Can the U.S. help them?

We certainly could have. We certainly didn’t.

Look at what happened at the end of August. Three or so days before the atrocity, U.S. intelligence agencies were getting wind of an imminent gas attack. Did Washington warn Damascus to stop? We don’t know. But we do know that if it did, it probably would have been dismissed. After all, the Syrians had used gas before. A year earlier, Obama had declared the use of gas a “red line,” and then did nothing about it. He said he was going to send the rebels small arms and such. I guess he did not use Amazon, because most of the stuff was very slow in arriving. All in all, the president did nothing. This cannot be said of Assad. He just kept on murdering…

The inescapable truth is that the world needs a policeman. The inescapable truth is that only the U.S. can play cop.