[cmdkeen]

Or it was part of the effort to stop Syria using chemical weapons, and deny their use to rebels (imagine ISIS with them). That is literally saving thousands of lives, not your hypothetical "I can't live without the internet" scenario.

The US was and is directly involved in the Syrian civil war. It may not be dropping bombs (though it was considering it, and that requires intelligence to plan) but it is trying to stop the violence - and guess what, that requires effective intelligence.