David Brooks: Obama Administration Has "Compelling Case" For Attack On Syria

JUDY WOODRUFF, PBS NEWSHOUR: David, to you first. Has the Obama administration made a compelling case for going into Syria?

DAVID BROOKS: Not public. But I do think they have a compelling case.

You know, we have an international system here. We all profit from it. Trade profits from it. Peace. We can travel around the world because of it. And part of that system is certain ideas, the certain ideas you can’t invade other countries for no reason. You can’t commit genocide. You can’t — rogue regimes can’t have nuclear weapons, and you can’t gas your own people.

And so if we ignore those basic standards, then our international system basically begins to erode. And I think what he’s doing is probably the least bad options. They’re all pretty terrible. But if we armed the militia, those — the opposition, that might have been a good idea a couple of years ago, but they’re too rabid now for us to be arming.

If we have a no-fly zone, that would just invite — look — make us look weak. So, I think what the president is trying to do is basically, one, establish the norm that you can’t gas your own people, two, try to change the cost-benefit analysis, make it more costly to gas your own people, and, finally, just to establish the idea that we will strike out and try to change your calculus.

There are certainly dangers down the road, but I think the loss of the credibility, as we try to face Iran and other countries, would be more immediate and more realizable, and, therefore, he more or less has to do what he’s doing.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mark, how do you see it? Has he made — has the administration, has the president made the case?

MARK SHIELDS: I don’t think so, Judy.

I think the president, and particularly the secretary of state, John Kerry, today made a very strong case about what has been done is abhorrent. It is unacceptable. It does — it cannot go unnoted and unpunished. But, at the same time, I don’t think there’s a case been made as to what we will do, other than to punish in some way the Syrian regime for doing it, and to make ourselves feel better.

I mean, I don’t — I don’t see that — there’s no regime change. There’s no U.S. troops or coalition troops. There’s no coalition troops. It’s to be short and over. And I think, as General Anthony Zinni said, you can’t be a little bit pregnant. I mean, you can’t — one and done — that is you, you go in and you send in the missiles and you feel better, and you have put some damage and some hurt upon the other side — but it is not a long-term solution.

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David Brooks: Obama Administration Has "Compelling Case" For Attack On Syria