These lessons have consequences not simply for this crisis but for future U.S. and NATO military interventions. First and foremost, the time has long since arrived to revisit the entire concept that force should only be used as a last resort. It is hard to exaggerate how pernicious an idea this is. If it's meant as a humanitarian contribution, we have seen, time after time after time, that holding off the application of military force turns out to be anything but a humanitarian ideal. Lives are lost.
People lose their homes.
And military options tend to grow smaller and more expensive. If there was one thing that should be revisited, it is the entire bias against the early use of force in humanitarian crises such as this. Secondly, we are learning about the limits of air power. It is not a panacea. Tactical air power as an end in itself is limited, just as is strategic air power.