As evidence of possible chemical weapons use in Syria mounts, so do the calls in some quarters for a full-scale military intervention in the now two-year-long conflict that has cost roughly 70,000 lives. President Barack Obama had said chemical attacks by regime forces on Syrian civilians would constitute a “red line” for his administration in its willingness to intervene against the brutal government of Syrian president, Bashar Al Assad. 

When the quarry guards show up, you run like hell. You drop your sacks of pilfered dirt and scramble down the steep rim of the copper mine. When you reach the base, you keep running, bounding over pools awash in sulfuric acid. Be careful: Plenty of boys before you have tumbled in and snapped limbs. Do not look back. Do not stop sprinting until you slip unseen into the village.