The Wishful Thinking school of foreign policy

Yes, there is a difference between imperfect cooperation and no cooperation at all. See: Saudi Arabia. The problem with your argument is that, at this point in time, THERE IS NO COOPERATION FROM SYRIA. Ignoring the fact that American soldiers and Iraqi citizens are being killed in the blind hope that Syria might one day step up and take care of the problem is wishful thinking. From that MIT International Review piece you quote:

Administration hostility to Syria has ended this cooperation.

Now, we can argue about how we got to this point. I think the influence of Iran has just as much to do with decreased cooperation as anything the administration has done. But that doesn’t change the fact that right now, as we speak, there are terrorist camps operating with impunity out of Syria and the Syrians are not cooperating in any way to stop this from happening. As I wrote previously, this is almost exactly analogous to Afghanistan (a nation you think we should have invaded even before 9/11, apparently*). Al Qaeda terrorists operating out of Syria are killing Americans RIGHT NOW. Al Qaeda terrorists are operating out of Syria and fueling sectarian violence/terrorist actions in Iraq RIGHT NOW. Al Qaeda terrorists are attempting to destabilize the country we are currently engaged in RIGHT NOW. It’s easy to throw out massive numbers of American casualties in hypotheticals to prove your point, but that’s all they are: hypotheticals.

*I want you to explain to me, in as many words as you care to use, the following: What is the difference between striking al Qaeda in Afghanistan (pre-9/11), and striking al Qaeda in Syria (right now)? Both nations have allowed (encouraged?) their territory to be used as a base of operations for terrorists intent on killing American citizens. It seems to me that you would have made the same arguments in the months and years before 9/11 that you’re making right now. “Oh, we haven’t lost that many people in the embassy bombings and the WTC bombing and the USS Cole. Plus, we don’t want to destabilize the region further. What are you going to do? Carpet bomb Kabul? Think of how many Americans will be lost in retaliatory actions.” Again, I’m not advocating a full-fledged invasion of Syria. It’s unnecessary. But eliminating these terrorist camps IS necessary for the stability of Iraq and the safety of our soldiers.