So this is a good start:
The CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train opposition fighters in Syria amid concern that moderate, U.S.-backed militias are rapidly losing ground in the country’s civil war, U.S. officials said.
But the CIA program is so minuscule that it is expected to produce only a few hundred trained fighters each month even after it is enlarged, a level that officials said will do little to bolster rebel forces that are being eclipsed by radical Islamists in the fight against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
It's not much, but it's a start, right? We just need time to ramp up the effort, no doubt. This could be good. Right? Please, say "right." Reassure me that we aren't a bunch of effing idiots who have no clue about strategy.
Oh, God! What a charade!
The CIA’s mission, officials said, has been defined by the White House’s desire to seek a political settlement, a scenario that relies on an eventual stalemate among the warring factions rather than a clear victor. As a result, officials said, limits on the agency’s authorities enable it to provide enough support to help ensure that politically moderate, U.S.-supported militias don’t lose but not enough for them to win.
Yeah. People who walk away from their families and lives to fight an army that uses chemical weapons really feel they are doing the right thing when they are sent the message that they are expected to fight and die not for victory but for a political settlement that leaves Assad in at least partial power.
Sheer, sand-pounding idiocy. Exasperated? You bet.
