Syria: The End of American Omnipotence

How is the Syria crisis forcing U.S. elites to see what the world already knows?

Takeaways

In US foreign policy, few adversaries may have as lasting an effect on the country's future than Syria's Assad.
If a nation has vital interests everywhere, it has no effective foreign policy strategy.
US foreign policy too often resembles a hyperactive chess player who cannot think but one move ahead.
Too often, US foreign & military policy is good only from above. On the ground, it can leave a disastrous legacy.
In Washington policy debates, too few people really care to connect the dots.