Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad has already had many hundreds of peaceful protesters murdered and the body count is growing, daily. His armoured brigades entered the city of al-Dira'a, the epicentre of anti-government protests, after shelling the town for days. Other cities are suffering from the same fate. There are reports of    Iranian Revolutionary Guards participating in the repression. And the evidence of brutality is plain, on YouTube and elsewhere. Then Assad stirred up trouble with Israel on the Golan Heights.

Isn't this, then, a situation where "the costs and risks of intervention" should not be "an argument for never acting on behalf of what's right"? This is not a call for Nato strikes against Syria. It is a call for an array of diplomatic actions that would serve both Western national interests and the dictates of conscience.

It is remarkable that Muammar Gaddafi gets what no other regional tyrant who is a sworn enemy of the West is getting. Consider this: Gaddafi gave up his military nuclear programme in 2004 — Bashar al-Assad did not; Gaddafi gave up support for international terrorism — Assad is still a main sponsor of terrorism; Gaddafi supported counter-radicalisation programmes for former al-Qaeda jihadis — Assad facilitated their transit into Iraq to go and fight Western armies and murder Iraqi civilians; Gaddafi improved relations with the West — Assad improved relations with Iran; Gaddafi turned over at least one perpetrator of the Lockerbie bombing to justice — Assad shielded the murderers of the late Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, from justice.

Finally, turning Libya over to rebel control has, at least so far, no discernible strategic benefit — Gaddafi was already our friend, sold us his oil and had willingly stopped all activities that constituted a strategic threat to the West since 2004. 

Turning Syria over, by contrast, would produce far-reaching benefits. Its patronage of Hizbollah and Hamas would in all likelihood come to an end; and so would its alliance with Iran. And if Iran lost its major ally and client in the region, its influence would be seriously curtailed.

Why then, cannot the US and Europe begin by recalling their ambassadors, suspending the EU Association Agreement with Syria, expanding asset freezes to the entire Assad family, initiating proceedings to bring Assad to The Hague, and stating, as President Obama did with Gaddafi: "Assad must go"?