Collateral damage, friendly fire, civilian casualties; despots, maniacs, crusaders, jihadists; I see dead people.

Humans war.  They have always warred; for territory and property; for ideology; out of cruelty and bigotry and madness; for freedom, liberty and justice; on the offense and in defense; and people die by the thousands, tens of thousands and millions.

We are about to war some more.  We speak, from a safe distance, of the horrific loss of thousands of lives in a civil war in a far off place, (that few of us could readily locate on a map), between factions that even experts have trouble identifying.  But we spring into action in response to a specific group of casualties slain by the taboo method of a Geneva-ly outlawed gaseous substance.  There is some secret plan, drawn up with charts and graphs and delivered by generals in war-room-speak with actuarial assessments for things like acceptable civilian losses.  Sadly, our intervention will save no lives and will probably cost countless more.  This will not deter us.  When it comes to war, the wagers cannot see the irony.