In June Yemen's air force launched limited strikes against the Houthis to push them back from Amran city.
Yet none of that begins to apply to a child gassed to death (or born with AIDS or hit by a "limited strike").
If Democrats objected, the Administration could say, "Bill Clinton did the same thing; he conducted limited strikes in Afghanistan, the Sudan, and in Baghdad to protect American lives".
For Israel there is no such thing as a "limited strike" or "punishment" when it comes to deterrence, and Israeli leaders have openly threatened to topple the Assad regime or destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure in Lebanon.
And even if an attack of this scale and duration was carried out, Dempsey added, there was a risk "that the regime could withstand limited strikes by dispersing its assets.
Pentagon estimates have risen throughout the year as officials refine how they will design an antimissile system meant to protect all 50 states from a limited strike by a country like North Korea or Iran.
A product of research begun under President Ronald Reagan's unfulfilled Star Wars concept, this far more modest defense shield is meant to protect all 50 states from a limited strike by an unpredictable enemy, like North Korea.
Citing its own conversations with US officials, the New York Times describes "limited" strikes over "one or two days" intended to "deter and degrade" the Assad regime's chemical weapons program but not to depose Assad.
By his calculation, each layer will take up to 24 "developmental" tests (in other words, tests in which the conditions are rigged to be more benign); only then can operational tests, designed to reproduce real-life conditions, begin.Assuming at least ten tests a year, it might be realistic to deploy a reliable defence against a limited strike by about 2010, Mr Coyle reckons.
They lead the so-called Republican hawks who believe limited strikes are not enough, but their comments when they emerged left little doubt they are now in tow.
