WaPo quotes the usual anonymous sources saying Obama Administration is ready to supply arms directly to the rebels in Syria rather than through intermediaries. The next step will be “advisers” on the ground and sooner rather than later another botched invasion by the US will occur and we will have a war with Syria. Inquiring minds ask, what will the goal and the exit strategy be? Probably about the same as in our previous adventures in the Middle East, in other words the US will go charging into a quagmire, assuming its exceptionalism will save the day. This strategy worked so well in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, didn’t it?
Had we actually wanted to help the rebels, we would have done so months ago. But we don’t. I’m suspecting what the US really wants is a badly weakened Syria it can turn into a vassal country. Do you think the rebels will allow that? The people of Syria desperately need help but I’m not seeing how starting a war will help them much.
The current lurching fitfully towards war because Obama drew a red line over chemical weapons and now we must go to war to defend our honor and Obama’s word is lunatic. The Pentagon opposes this adventurism. But the war pigs and corporatists are bound and determined to have themselves another jolly little war. Hey, it’s not their kids who will be killed or maimed.
“Upward trajectory” is a frightening phrase, passing beyond “momentum” and into the territory of mission creep. The Obama administration has moved into a phase of deliberately looking for ‘provocation and response’ which will justify piecemeal escalation towards war.