Caution about Syria is good

The challenge that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) poses demands a response that is well-thought-out and coordinated with other nations with interests in the region. U.S. air intervention will have geopolitical ramifications and should not be made lightly or in the heat of passion.

President Obama is right in not rushing in to finish ISIS, reacting to calls for war, after the murder of journalist James Foley. Exercising caution in the face of this type of crisis has been good for the president in the past—as a strategy in Afghanistan and a year ago, also in Syria, when the White House disarmed the Damascus government’s chemical-weapon stockpile.

In both cases, the president was criticized for hesitating on foreign policy. This was especially true for Syria, where military threats against the regime of Bashar al-Assad combined with negotiations with Russia.

The conflict in the Middle East is too complex to think that the U.S. has the power to control how it develops. Let’s not forget what happened with the previous administration, which thought it could.

The recent mass execution of Syrian soldiers by ISIS and other incidents in Iraq confirm the existence of a criminal brutality that borders on genocide toward any people who do not agree with its interpretation of Islam. This is everyone’s problem, not just the United States’.

Stability in Syria, given the threat from ISIS, has now become a priority. The potential spread of extremists to other Arab countries and Turkey is a real threat.

However, the question is how to obtain this stability, when Washington already determined that Assad—the enemy of ISIS—is an unacceptable dictator.

Military action would involve many questions and risks. Because of everything that ISIS represents, the response should be coordinated international action.

There have been too many cases in our history where controlled military action ended in American soldiers dying in faraway lands. Therefore, we prefer a cautious, smart response rather than a temperamental military reaction driven by testosterone.