Your Editorial on Nov. 14 poses the question “Who to cheer for in Syrian conflict.” It must be a question as the editorial basically says “Woe is me the World is a nasty place.”

If the United States was led by other than rank amateurs, action would have been taken to mould the conflict in our favor when Hillary Clinton was calling Bashar Assad a reformer. Now it will be blood on top of blood.

However, the stakes are very high and Assad must fall. Otherwise, the Administration that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq will have handed the mullahs in Iran control of the Middle East and its oil. The Shia will have nuclear weapons and contiguous territory from Pakistan to the Mediterranean Sea.

The opposition has some nasty characters, but when you do not control events they control you. Even if that were not true, a lot of Alawite, Christians and Druze will be slaughtered in payback for their support of the Assad regime.

The other option is worse.

James F. Wind

Vicksburg