Sooner rather than later

The Syrian crisis has legs of its own. For all the reasoned argument and debate about the consequences of an attack on Syria. The questioning of who authorised the chemical attacks, The spectre of Iraq and Afghanistan, the claim that in similar instances chemicals have been used and the West turned a blind eye, notably Iraq against the Kurds. Its hard not to have to acknowledge that, as in personal violence, its the case, at the end of the day, do you have the stomach for it.
Over here we have just emerged from a marathon, all day debate in Parliament about the rights and wrongs of the case and whether Parliament would authorise the Prime Minister to follow the Americans and inflict specific targets with missile strikes. It is a reflection of Tony Blair's mendacious treatment of Parliament in the lead up to the Iraq War that has placed the current Prime Minister in a position where he has had to ask for a free vote in Parliament, which he lost last night.
Listening to the debate one was struck by the continued referencing to past campaigns and the uncomfortable truth that we went to war on a false premise and very dodgy intelligence. The haste that the government wished to act, not withstanding that the UN investigation had not finished its work of proving that chemical weapons had been in fact used, was all too reminiscent of the Bush/Blair debacle. As a nation we have lost some of our self confidence and one could hear in the speeches a trace of fear of the consequences.
The Americans on the other hand still feel impervious.  The cold war between themselves and Russia, with the unimaginable consequences of an nuclear war are a long time ago and now, indisputably the most powerful military force on the planet they have the confidence not to feel threatened.
Europe has tied its energy to Gazprom and the Russians could make our winter very uncomfortable if they become peeved at efforts to punish Assad its one of the consequences the Americans don't have to fear.
And so tonight Vice President Kerry has laid the ground for some sort of punitive exercise against the Syrians.
The claim is that treaties, dating back to the First World War outlawing chemical weapons have been broken and this is just cause for retaliation and they will retaliate, sooner rather than later.