The deaths of two Joe Schmo citizens, especially ones who were in harm’s way voluntarily and without sanction, means nothing. Consider, the murder of an ambassador, whose position if not his person is supposed to mean something, elicited nothing from us. Hundreds of Americans have been killed and millions-plus damage has been wrought here and there and from time to time without us going to war: the Lusitania (though they were warned), the USS Panay attack, the Beirut barracks bombing, the USS Liberty attack, the USS Cole attack, the ‘93 World Trade Center bombing, etc.
If we go to war over a couple of journalists losing their heads it’d be mere pretense. Not so much false pretense like the USS Maine or the Gulf of Tonkin “incident,” but not the real reason, nevertheless. The real reasons are that we want to get into the Syrian war out in the open, finally, that we fear for the Kurds, that we’re embarrassed to have eight years of work in Iraq go down the toilet so precipitously, and that we don’t want regional powers who aren’t us stepping in. Even if we’re suddenly on the same side, Assad can’t be allowed to solve it. Nor can Iran, for obvious reasons. Nor can Turkey, for less obvious reasons. Above all else Russia can never, ever, ever be allowed to step in, as they are Satan and his demon army from hell incarnate, or so we pretend to think.
I agree completely.