Day XX of Active American Involvement in the Syrian War.

Is anyone keeping count?

Regardless, the refugees on the ground over there are tiring already of our protective presence, it seems...

Given the suspicions of anti-government Syrians, American strikes should have focused strictly on the Islamic State, said Mohammed Ghanem, a Syrian opposition activist now working for the Syrian American Coalition, a group that has lobbied for American intervention against Mr. Assad.

“You rout ISIS, establish good will, create trust, and then, working with the opposition, you go after Nusra,” he said.

“We are troubled by the expansion of scope of the campaign,” he added. “Hitting deep inside rebel territory without prior coordination or discussion with armed opposition or civilian opposition is frankly causing considerable harm to the purpose of this mission.”

Diplomats, aid workers and others who have long followed the conflict say they are perplexed that the United States would veer to targets other than the widely despised Islamic State on the very first day of the campaign.

It's almost as if...
(can you fill in the blank here too?)

ADDED:

Who... who... who... hit the grain silos?
Perceptions matter, especially if you believe -- as I do -- that nation-states should not intervene in other countries' civil wars.  Why bloody our hands, allegedly to protect the victims of the latest victimized group?  Truth be told?  Survivors are sometimes better operating independently, without being displaced by the help from above...