Rep. Chris van Hollen : Three lessons from Iraq can guide intervention in Syria . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John D. Sutter. Many would like to forget the fact that the United States and the international community willfully ignored Saddam Hussein 's use of chemical weapons against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war and against Iraq 's Kurdish population in 1988 in the aftermath of that war . He says U.S. must take strong action to punish Assad regime , deter use of chemical weapons . Van Hollen : Mission must be clearly defined and achievable at an acceptable cost .
Rep. Chris van Hollen : Three lessons from Iraq can guide intervention in Syria . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John D. Sutter. He says U.S. must take strong action to punish Assad regime , deter use of chemical weapons . Van Hollen : Mission must be clearly defined and achievable at an acceptable cost .