No Options

Well, that's it.

We'd best just pack it up.

A headline above the fold in the latest New York Times blares,

US Needing Options, Finds Its Hands Tied

No options.

Our hands are tied!

It's a shame, really, that we took a million casualties in the Iraq debacle. A whole generation of our fighting men, wiped out, when we really needed them now.

Oh, wait. Nevermind.

It's too bad, then, we aren't more strategically deployed at this critical time. It would take months to move all the supplies and munitions for 150,000 heavily armed troops to the heart of the Middle East. Time we simply do not have.

Uh...

If only we didn't have Iraq to worry about. It's such a distraction. We just can't walk and chew gum at the same time, unfortunately. If we had left poor old Saddam Hussein alone, we'd be able to focus exclusively on Iran or North Korea, because he would've agreed to make absolutely no trouble while we were looking elsewhere.

Ok, wait...

Aha! Of course, everyone agrees the World is ruled by China and Russia, and we can do nothing unless they bless our actions beforehand. The support of Japan and Europe is meaningless. We take our directives from the communists. And they say we can't do anything. So, that's that.

I think what the NYT means to say is that there are no options they approve of, so they hope to tie our hands.