An open ended commitment does no such thing, and it puts us in the position of having to shoot down all comers. We are not prepared to deal with the ramifications of doing so, and anyone who thinks so is speaking through their ten gallon hat. If a pilot punches out over Damascus due to mechanical troubles, how is he or she going to be rescued?
The over ten year no fly zone over Iraq was a disaster, and it did not prevent the massacre of the Marsh Arabs. It wore out our planes and our pilots, and made them targets daily. Massive stupidity, in my opinion.
Gotta disagree. Anytime you get access to air space weird things can happen.