NOW We Want To Arm The Syrian Rebels!

The administration is now proposing we arm the Syrian rebels!  Wow.  What a novel idea.  I wonder why it wasn't suggested three years ago when the Syrian civil war began.  What?  It was?  I must have missed it, was it in the newspapers?

Of course it was as well as every other media outlet known to man. With this revelation, I think I've figured out how this administration thinks.  If we read papers at all, all we read are the headlines and never get to the nitty gritty.  Therefore we are easily fooled and take the governments actions as timely.

So it is with these current headlines. Forget we know it's too little too late.  The President wants $500,000,000 for this task.  There are a few obstacles.  One, he'll need Congress to appropriate the money.  Sure, there are stashes from which he can draw, still they have to have the funds within them.

That actually may be the least of his problems.  There is the issue of how to determine the good rebels from the bad.  To assume all the bad guys have crossed the border into Iraq is fool hardy.  These guys aren't dumb.  It would have been much easier when this little skirmish began rather than waiting until the bad guys filled the void and thoroughly muddied the lines between good and bad.

Let's say they can figure this out.  Then they have to be armed and trained.  By the administrations own estimate this could take nearly a year after everything else is in place.  Does any one really think the situation is going to be put on hold until we get our choice of players in place?  Don't hold your breath.

Meanwhile the bad guys continue their march toward their own Caliphate.  Syrian war planes have joined the fray as have the Iranian military.  Neither are our friends and neither are going to wait for us to get our ducks in order.

If by staying out of it the lines of Iraq are redrawn, is that so bad?  Let the Kurds have their long awaited freedom.  Let the al Maliki government fall but don't trust any new one to be any more western friendly than his has been. Either way, a portion of Iraq will be under Iranian dominance.  Don't forget, either, Syria has Russia as an ally.

Maybe we'd be better off putting our efforts toward protecting the few friends we have left.  Jordan and Israel and maybe Saudi.  Saudi is iffy.

The moral is read the story under the headlines and discover we're really not going to do anything that will stop the current carnage nor strengthen and save Iraq. I'm surprised al Maliki even asked for U.S. help since both his allies have air capabilities.

For once, stay out of it until they sort it out for themselves.  Then we can offer aid for considerations and be more likely to have some success.  Dealing with the semi-satisfied would be a whole lot easier than dealing with the maddened crowd.

Unfortunately, if past history is any indicator, the wrong decision will be made.