But this is exactly what this author asserts:
"In a sense, Obama owns Syria now," says Joshua Landis, a highly regarded Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. "I presume he'll try to go in toe by toe.… But he has to decide what his objectives are, which he hasn't. Does he want to provide just enough arms to keep the status quo and divide Syria in two? Does he want to give them enough to take Damascus and drive the Alawites [President Bashar al-Assad's ruling sect] into the mountains? Does he want he want to see them take over the entire country?"
Military force is a blunt instrument and you are fooling yourself if you think we can calibrate the war outcome with such fine distinctions of outcomes. All we can do is help those who oppose Assad, hope Assad loses, and prepare for the post-Assad phase of Syria (or even the post-Syria Assad phase, if Assad retreats to his Alawite homeland).
And if I may be so bold as to say this, but Syrians own Syria. It's up to them. We're just trying to keep the worst from happening--a fight that Assad might win or a fight that Assad might lose after much more blood is spilled.
Saying we "own" Syria is just another way to keep us from trying to influence the outcome. Fear not, there will be an outcome whether we intervene, or not. And I guarantee you that those who say our intervention means we "own" Syria--and thus have a responsibility for pursuing a good outcome regardless of what other actors do--don't really mean that.
How do I know that with such assurance? Simple. Iraq. I guarantee that nobody worried about us doing anything at all lest we "own" Syria have any sense of responsibility for defending what we won at significant cost in Iraq even as al Qaeda rebuilds itself there and Iran seeks to undermine Iraq's independence.
Syrians own Syria. We're just trying to defeat our enemies in Syria. Is that such a difficult concept to accept?
UPDATE: Are the rebels already getting anti-tank rockets and anti-aircraft missiles?
New evidence emerged of escalating foreign support for the rebels, with a Gulf source telling Reuters that Saudi Arabia had equipped fighters for the first time with shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, their most urgent request. Rebels said Riyadh had also sent them anti-tank missiles.
The weapons deal was disclosed as rebel fighters confront government troops and hundreds of militants from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia seeking to retake the northern city of Aleppo, where heavy fighting resumed on Monday.
Just hundreds of Hezbollah fighters? That's not much to spearhead a battle for a large city.
But whatever. It's not like they could "own" Syria, or anything. That's a burden uniquely American.
