We have a hint of how well a revolution assisted by us at arms length can work in Libya, but that is still developing on different fronts. I draw no conclusions on that score with the Libya War.
But in Syria, with another Baathist minority regime that is admittedly evil and a threat, we may actually see if arming and supporting internal opposition can win the fight at a lower cost. We could even see limited armed intervention if Turkey moves in to establish humanitarian safety zones.
Of course, we won't have a United Nations Security Council blessing, but faith in multilateralism has its limits, no?
Oh, and one more thing. We will be joined with insurgents whose tactics may be less pure than we'd like:
Two suicide car bombers struck Syrian security compounds in Aleppo on Friday, killing 28 people, Syrian officials said, bringing significant violence for the first time to a major city that has largely stood by President Bashar Assad in the 11-month-old uprising against his rule.ngled, bloodied bodies and severed limbs lay on the pavement outside the military and security service buildings that were targeted - as shown in live footage on Syrian television, which has consistently portrayed the revolt against Assad as the work of foreign-backed "terrorists."
A suicide bombing. Wonderful. Yes, this target in Aleppo was at least a security target. And I'll assume that this wasn't a Syrian regime operation since at this point faking an insurgent atrocity just makes Assad's side look weak:
The Iraqi branch of al Qaida, seeking to exploit the bloody turmoil in Syria to reassert its potency, carried out two recent bombings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and likely was behind suicide bombings Friday that killed at least 28 people in the largest city, Aleppo, U.S. officials told McClatchy.
That's a problem for us, no? It made sense to me that al Qaeda or other jihadis would carry out these attacks because that's their signature weapon. But I couldn't say if they attacked at the direction of Assad out of loyalty for years of support in killing Iraqi Shias, or if the attacks were blowback as the jihadis still sitting in Syria decided that Sunni solidarity requires them to strike the Alawite regime. Now our intelligence thinks it knows the answer is the latter.
Even aside from al Qaeda, the non-jihadi insurgents still present a dilemma for us because they won't wear uniforms--in violation of the laws of war. And some, at least, will hit civilian targets. And we'll have armed them. The anti-intervention people who oppose US use of force will be steadfast in support of local resistance when this happens, right?
Or do they honestly believe that the opposition could eject Assad with a well-crafted petition spread via Twitter?
Still, the Obama post-war plan will surely be awesome, right?
