Hey look who it is! John Yoo rears his ugly, criminal, neocon head.

John Choon Yoo (born July 10, 1967)[4] is an American attorney, law professor, and author. He served as a political appointee, the Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice (OLC), during the George W. Bush administration. He is best known for his opinions concerning the Geneva Conventions which legitimized the War on Terror by the United States. He also authored the so-called Torture Memos, which concerned the use of what the Central Intelligence Agency called enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo

The Benefits Outweigh the Costs in Syria
International law permits using force to improve international peace and security.
John Yoo | National Review Online
August 30, 2013

President Barack Obama and his advisers are hesitating to punish Syria’s use of chemical weapons because of concerns about international law. This latest tragedy in Syria’s civil war shows the damage done by a legalistic approach to international security: Earlier intervention by the United States might well have ended the Assad regime, forestalled the deaths of more than 100,000 civilians, and prevented the opening of the Pandora’s box of chemical weapons.

Under the administration’s reading of the U.N. Charter, however, the United States may resort to force only in self-defense or when authorized by the Security Council. President Obama delayed war in Libya until the Security Council approved, and it so far has refused to stop the killing in Syria on the same grounds. In his quest to be the anti–George W. Bush, whom he accused of waging an illegal war in Iraq, Mr. Obama has refused to provide aid to the Syrian rebels, impose a no-fly zone, or attack regime targets, allowing the civil war to kill civilians, displace millions, and further destabilize the Middle East.

It is time for the United States to stop hiding behind such obsolete, formalistic views of the laws of war and embrace a pragmatic approach in keeping with long American practice. Instead of blindly following the U.N. Charter’s ban on war, the United States can argue that protecting international peace and security takes precedence. The U.N. Charter aims to prevent the great-power wars that destroyed Europe in 1914 and 1939, but which have largely disappeared during the “long peace” of the post-war world. International law should not outlaw force that promotes international peace and security by stopping civil wars, humanitarian catastrophes, rogue nations, terrorist groups, or failing states.

http://www.aei.org/article/foreign-and-defense-policy/regional/the-benefits-outweigh-the-costs-in-syria/

The noecons are pushing hard, folks.