America had good reasons for not bombing Syria. Among them, only a minority of politicians or the public wanted to have another go at rooting out WMDs in the Middle East with Patriot missiles. The specter of Iraq was too much. But the course that was taken instead—dealing with Russia to seize Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons—also has born consequences. The move rankled Saudi Arabia, which had urged a strike. It also created a power struggle that could topple the moderate rebel groups the U.S. supports—and thus, push America to the sidelines in the game of influence over Syria's civil war.
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