John Kerry, U.S. Military Clash on Approach to Syria's Rebels

[Jesus Malverde]

Frustrated by the stalemate in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry has been pushing for the U.S. military to be more aggressive in supporting the country's rebel forces. Opposition has come from the institution that would spearhead any such effort: the Pentagon.

Mr. Kerry and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power have advocated options that range from an American military intervention to weaken the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to using U.S. special operations forces to train and equip a large number of rebel fighters. Such moves would go far beyond the U.S.'s current engagement.

In recent White House meetings, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel have pushed back against military intervention, said senior officials.

They say the risk is high of being dragged into an open-ended foreign entanglement.

Read More: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304441304579479500649988892

[TwilightGardener]

1. Who is leaking this, and why? The most disturbing part of the article

is Kerry and Power begging Petraeus and Keane for ideas--trying to do an end-run around CURRENT Pentagon leaders? Yuck. Glad Hagel and Dempsey have been pushing back.

[ProSense]

2. Sounds like

The disagreement between a hawkish State Department and a dovish Pentagon, the officials from both sides said, is the latest chapter in an agonizing three-year administration debate over Syria.

Current and former State Department officials see the Pentagon's objections as a way of killing proposals without explicitly saying no. Pentagon officials say they are trying to prevent the U.S. from getting sucked into another messy Mideast conflict, a concern that also helps explain President Barack Obama's reluctance to engage more directly in Syria.

<...>

Mr. Kerry now shares Gen. Dempsey's concerns about jeopardizing the transfer of Mr. Assad's chemical weapons so he isn't pushing for the military train-and-equip program to start immediately.

...made up bullshit. The WSJ's agenda is necon spin, and the transparent attempt is "dovish Pentagon." What a joke. After all the unsourced claims, they end with Kerry coming around to diplomacy.

Kerry And McCain Swap Teddy Roosevelt-Themed Insults...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024796074

[Junkdrawer]

5. "dovish Pentagon" or "still-decimated-by-Iraq Pentagon"????

Yet another occupation may be that final bridge too far....

[jakeXT]

3. They have now US TOW missiles and maybe even train in Jordan, what do they want more ?

Reports of rebels with ‘tank-busters’ raises questions of US role in Syria

The videos appeared online this week amid deep divisions between John Kerry’s State Department and the Pentagon over how much more the US should involve itself militarily in the Syrian civil war.

The videos of the US-made BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles were posted online by Harakat Hazm, a Free Syrian Army brigade of fighters in north-west Syria linked to former Supreme Military Council leader Selim Idriss. There have also been reports that the Syrian Revolutionary Front of Jamal Marouf also now have TOW, or tube-launched anti-tank missiles.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/reports-of-rebels-with-tank-busters-raises-questions-of-us-role-in-syria

Learning to Fight Like an American at the FSA Training Camp in Jordan

“I do not want to mention my name,” said a 20-year-old Free Syrian Army fighter, “because the camp we practiced in was highly classified.”

So classified, in fact, that the CIA—which is rumored to be running the camp (but declined to comment for this article)—still won’t acknowledge it exists.

For nearly a year, rumors have swirled about a covert, US-run training camp for FSA fighters in the vast Jordanian desert. (Jordanian intelligence also did not respond to requests for comment on this article.) And last week it was reported that the Obama administration appears to be expanding "its covert program of training and assistance for the Syrian opposition." However, despite all this speculation, little is known about how this supposed Jordanian camp works, who trains there, and what tactics they learn

http://www.vice.com/read/syria-deraa-USA-Jordan-FSA-regime-CIA

[seveneyes]

4. Not in our name

Helping the Islamist that want to abuse and murder women and minorities is simply wrong. That a Democratic administration is doing this really takes the cake.