Politicians seem to love using the military to “send messages”; that’s kinda like using a hammer to tap morse on somebody’s head, not what the military is for and not that effective.
Destroy Assad’s stocks of chemical weapons (and the rebels’, if it turns out they have them too), when you can get reliable intelligence as to where they are. That’s direct and even appropriate. Don’t use the chemical weapons as a causus belli in a transparent attempt to get a blank cheque for any kind of military force you think will send a message to voters that they should vote for you.
