After the release of horrifying images of Syrian civilians killed by chemical attacks on Tuesday, there were predictable demands that the United States should “take action” against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Indeed, hawkish voices in both the Democratic and Republican parties have been calling for US military engagement in Syria at least since March 2013, when more than two dozen people were killed in a sarin gas attack in the country’s north. In this context, Trump stands to benefit politically from Thursday’s missile strikes against a Syrian airfield.

President Obama has launched a new wave of US-led war, this time against ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIL or simply the Islamic State). Obama has made clear we are getting into this for the long haul, stating that the US must sustain military action beyond the end of his presidential term.

Editor’s note: Following President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry’s attempts to rush to bomb Syria in the late summer of 2013, the SPC Steering Committee undertook to write an organizational statement responding to that call for war and the situation on the ground in Syria. We found it a surprisingly challenging task due to the complexity of the situation and differing analyses within our leadership. We find these differences mirrored across the left in the US.