Syria

So near as I can tell, Obama's taken the bait, and is sending in Marines.  On the news, the idea is heavily hyped that of course our old, Saturday-morning-cartoon supervillains, al Qaeda, are behind the deaths of the diplomats.  It's as though they're less a paramilitaristic terrorist organization than a campaign tool for Mitt Romney.  The way I see it, American interests have all been in good hands since hostilities in Syria began; the intelligence community and covert military should have had all their bases covered -- I can see no excuse for the deaths of diplomatic personnel.  It gets me to wondering what twisted chess games go on between old-school CIA and Homeland Security, and what domestic political motives are behind this apparently unintentional security slippage.  What does seem clear is that any substantial, publically acknowledged military commitment is a net gain for Republicans, or so they may think:  they're sure any belligerent reaction by the Obama Administration would be an affront to his base, and experience tells many neocons that the fog of war can make America retarded enough to give their side an edge in an election.  Whatever.  Power struggle here means more sand niggers and infidels die over there.  Usual stuff, I guess.