U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., no doubt has the best of intentions in calling for American air strikes designed to remove President Bashar Assad from power in the Middle Eastern nation of Syria.
McCain was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. So he has seen cruelty up close, and he surely abhors the violence in Syria, where Assad's regime is responsible for most of the 8,000 deaths in an ongoing uprising. Most of those killed have been civilians.
But as much as we sympathize with the Syrian people and respect McCain's motives, the U.S. military should stay out of that country.
Al-Qaida is on the move in Syria, and either al-Qaida or some other repressive, radical Muslim group could readily move into the power vacuum that would be created by Assad's removal. That's what is happening in Egypt, and the same may well happen in Libya, where the United States intervened militarily to help topple dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Tragic as it may be, there is simply no guarantee that a peaceful, freedom-promoting government would replace Assad in Syria.
Accordingly, the United States has no business risking creating an even bigger problem by involving our military in the attempt to remove Assad. Diplomatic and economic isolation of Syria are appropriate, but that should be the extent of our efforts.