U.S. Policy Shift on Syria: Edging Closer to Direct Military Intervention

U.S. Policy Shift on Syria: Edging Closer to Direct Military Intervention

by Ben Schreiner

Though President Obama last year rejected a proposal from the State Department, Pentagon, and CIA to directly arm Syrian rebel fighters, his administration is once again edging closer to directly intervening in the Syrian war.
As the Washington Post reported Tuesday, “The Obama administration is moving toward a major policy shift on Syria that could provide the rebels with equipment such as body armor, armored vehicles and possible military training and could send humanitarian assistance directly to Syria’s opposition political coalition.”
White House spokesperson Jay Carney confirmed the Post‘s reporting Wednesday, stating that the U.S. is “constantly reviewing the nature of the assistance we provide to both the Syrian people, in form of humanitarian assistance, and to the Syrian opposition in the form of non-lethal assistance.”
The exact nature of the additional U.S. assistance is expected to be announced Thursday at a meeting of the “Friends of Syria” in Rome.  The U.S. has previously sent communications equipment and night-vision goggles to rebels fighting in Syria.
John Kerry the Interventionist
The – perhaps – unlikelydriver of the reported shift in U.S. policy on Syria has been none other than new Secretary of State John Kerry.  The very man many continue to insist on mislabeling a dove.http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/02/u-s-policy-shift-on-syria-edging-closer-to-direct-military-intervention/