Syria

The choices for the US about Syria boil down to four. 

We can let Iran and Russia, who support Syria, rebuild Syria's military to defeat ISIS, and all the other rebel and militant groups there, and return to the oppressive rule before this started.

We can let ISIS continue it's assault and slow defeat of the Syrian government of President Assad leaving them to decide and maybe control its future. 

We, or the coalition, could somehow defeat ISIS in Syria and return the country to a state of war between the government and all the other militant groups, meaning back to where the civil war started years ago. 

Or we could contine as we and everyone else are doing, and keep our focus on Iraq, including the Kurds in northern Iraq with weapons, training and humanitarian aid but not promising independence, knowing the government and military of Iraq will never be strong enough to defeat ISIS without our money, military equipment and troops.

That's the choices. None good, and all more or less achieving little, if anything, for the people of Syria, but then much of Syria is already destroyed and millions have fled to Turkey and Lebanon, and with little hope or reason to return until it's safe.

And so it really doesn't matter what we do and what all the conservative politicians say we should do, and know won't work or make it worse because there is no good end there, and so maybe it's time to choose the lesser of evils, stability has merit even if it's a brutal government.