Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dempsey put it well as he admits we are not doing enough to help the rebels win their war against Assad, in describing the nature of the war:
“I’ve heard it described as a succession of conflicts. You have the conflict that currently exists; then there’ll be the second conflict, which is kind of an internal conflict; and then there’ll be the third conflict against the terrorist organizations that are growing,” he said. “That’s probably right.”
1. Defeat Assad.
2. Figure out who replaces Assad.
3. Wipe out the jihadis who flocked to Syria to defeat Assad and who may have replaced Assad in the worst case outcome of the second conflict (which means you may have to repeat conflict two).
If we remain too focused on making sure the Damascus Chapter of the League of Women Voters emerges on top in conflict 3, we'll never win conflict 1.
By all means, look ahead a bit to strengthen the forces you want to win conflict 2 and to be prepared to assist conflict 3, but don't neglect to win conflict 1, right?
