Here’s the latest explanation of the White House’s thinking:
A second senior official, who has seen the most recent planning, offered this metaphor to describe such a strike: If Assad is eating Cheerios, we’re going to take away his spoon and give him a fork. Will that degrade his ability to eat Cheerios? Yes. Will it deter him? Maybe. But he’ll still be able to eat Cheerios.
I for one am ecstatic that our foreign-policy establishment has confirmed the wisdom of The Tick:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=DBocpO2XUu0
“Cry spoon and let slip the forks of war!”