Why is Syria our problem?

Republicans and some in the news media are criticizing President Obama for not mounting a military intervention in Syria.   The Syrian civil war has been ongoing for about a year now.   President Assad has reportedly used the Syrian military to attack and kill his own people.    Critics have charged that President Obama is "leading from behind" and that the United States should use its military muscle to take matters in hand in Syria.   The consensus of opinion appears to favor siding with the rebels and against President Assad, who is now widely viewed as a tyrannical ruler of a captive people.   I believe that President Obama has been correct in avoiding direct and unilateral military intervention in Syria.    Although conservatives can make "what if" arguments to support a need for American military intervention in conflicts anywhere in the world, it is now clear that our country cannot continue to pursue the interventionist policies of the past half-century.   One Syrian rebel leader criticized the United States and in particular President Obama for refusing to intervene unless American interests are directly affected.   Well, duh?   Isn't this the whole point?   Absent a hypothetical chain of "what ifs," there is no clear American interest in intervening in the internal political affairs of a country half way around the world.   There are some very good reasons for mitigating our previous interventionist foreign policy.   First, we have no pressing national interest in intervening in Syria.   Second, we have no legal right to take it upon ourselves to intervene in Syrian affairs.   We have established international organizations that have the right and obligation to determine when outside intervention by other nations is appropriate and necessary:   the United Nations, NATO, and the Arab League come to mind.   Third, we don't have the money to keep spending trillions of our tax dollars in order to act as the World's policeman.   Fourth, past such interventions have not proven to produce positive results, politically or as a matter of enhancing American prestige and influence.   President Obama is doing the right thing in letting the Syrian civil war work itself out.