Contradictions, irony, stalk Obama in Syria war

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia: To hear him tell it, no one is more tired of war than Barack Obama — yet the US president is warning that combat fatigue must not get in the way of a new US military escapade in the Middle East.

Ironies abound as Obama contemplates US air strikes on Syria, an operation that will show how a president’s early ideas about wielding power can be reshaped by the dilemmas of office.