Strikes on Syria set a bad example in world politics

The military strikes the United States and its allies launched against government targets in Syria set a very bad example, circumventing the United Nations and making such military actions an option the world's superpower can use any time it wants against any country it doesn't like.

The excuse was a chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma, which the Syrian government has repeatedly denied, with the strikes launched immediately before a fact-finding mission by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was about to begin. Why did the US and its allies not wait until the investigation yields a result?

It reminds us of what happened to Iraq in 2003 when the United States invaded the country claiming Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. But no such weapons were found, and the war led to the protracted turmoil in Iraq and the rise of the Islamic State group. For that war, the United States and its allies owe the Iraqi people and the world an apology.