A Yugoslav nationalist assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. This triggered a diplomatic crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. International alliances that had formed over the previous decades were invoked. Within weeks, the major powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. World War I lasted four years and three months and cost the lives of over nine million people.

Today the United States is threatening to attack Syria because one megalomaniac dictator has fomented a civil war just to prop up his own position. The rest of the world either has no interest in getting involved or is outright opposed to the stance the United States is taking. Russia has mobilized naval forces and their one carrier is scheduled to sail for Syria.

How many millions of lives are we willing to risk on principle? To avenge the lives of thousands of Syrians killed by their own government we are willing to risk a world war which will cost millions of lives and possibly threaten world civilization?

We may not like what’s going on in Syria. But it is a sovereign country that has created this government for itself. What exactly does that have to do with America? We cannot fix every broken and corrupt government. The world is full of those. We certainly can’t fix a government by bombing the country. We just break it even more. This is insanity.

Obama is about to destroy his legacy.

I wish that was the only thing he is about to destroy.