Michael Young is opinion editor of The Daily Star newspaper in Beirut and author of “The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle” (Simon & Schuster), listed as one of the 10 notable books of 2010 by The Wall Street Journal. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Washington and NATO rationalized its bombing of Libya on humanitarian grounds. Then why can’t anyone muster a threat against Syria?