Which President Obama has already ruled out.
We want a thriving democracy there, one where the people can move forward into the future with a preferably Liberal democracy. I use Liberal not to say akin to our ideals, but one where the rights of all the people are considered, not just the majority. The problem is that none of those groups fighting Assad show any signs that they are planning anything like a liberal democracy. We are liable to bomb Assad, and then force him from power, and then have another group that is just as brutal in suppressing the population. More likely the nation will devolve into Somalia, with each faction controlling some part of the country, and each claiming to be the true voice of the nation.
Somalia has become the modern equivalent to the dark ages. Each person is aligned with one warlord, and that warlord lets them live.
Piracy and criminal organizations have flourished. Human rights are what your group affords the people aligned with it. Your enemies which are the other groups, have no rights whatsoever.
That's why I keep calling for intelligent action, or absent that, inaction. The idea of humanitarian is that we help, not merely punish. Assad is a bad guy, but all those fighting to overthrow him are no better, and many are believed to be far worse. We backed the wrong guy in Egypt, and had to watch him implement a barbaric regime over the people and threaten the stability of the Suez Canal. Then when he was overthrown, we got our backs up, because we were under the illusion that he was a) elected, and b) aligned with us.
The right to govern is not derived from an election, but by the people being willing to follow. When they no longer follow, you're no longer leading the people, you are inflicting upon them laws they want nothing to do with. Egypt was a popular uprising that threatened to devolve into that chaos I mentioned before. Syria is on the brink of that, and one Somalia is more than enough. Imagine a pirate infested Syria, with threats of attacks on ships in the Mediterranean. We're already spending billions trying to stop the attacks off the coast of Somalia, imagine what it would cost to run convoys through the Med.
We need intelligent action, with a clear goal, one that improves the situation, not makes it worse. So far, I haven't heard that plan put forth, and I long for one.
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