Whether or not Assad used chemical weapons doesn't alter my thoughts on military intervention much

[Recursion]

It's one factor, but not a very big one.

I'm a pessimist when it comes to using military force, both intellectually from having studied history and viscerally from having been part of an ill-advised invasion of Iraq.

Personally (and I know many on DU see this differently, in two different directions), I have one and only one question I ask when I'm pondering the US use of military force: would the use of force advance or impede US security?

Intelligence is an imperfect field, of course, and you can never know for certain, but I have trouble imagining a situation in which intervention in Syria has benefits for the US that outweigh the liabilities that come with it. Toppling dictators willy-nilly doesn't particularly make the world a safer place, and that region is dangerous enough as it is.