administration took the public relations hit of obama looking weak and being broadly criticized for not being forceful enough on syria they decided that was still preferable to potentially being drawn into a quagmire. potentially being drawn into a broader war that would require troop commitment that we couldn t get out of and make the situation worse. this administration doesn t have answers to those questions of how you avoid those outcomes. whether it s a one off or not you re throwing a punch at bashar al assad, the first time the united states has directly attacked the regime. you have special operations forces and others inside syria helping to fight isis. two enemies now, two combatants twin borders of syria. this is a complicated one. without a clear policy where are we going. nikki haley today said something along the lines of assad can t be part of the solution. closer to the he must go language obama used but we don t