[lbo-talk] Telegraph: US general says Syria action could be 'more substantial than thought'

[Robert Naiman]

General Jack Keane, a former vice chief of staff of the US Army, told BBC
Radio 4 that he had spoken to senior Republican senators who had been
briefed by the US president on Monday, and had been assured that Mr Obama
planned to do significant damage to the forces of Bashar al-Assad.

The Obama administration has previously said that military strikes would
not be aimed at toppling Assad's government nor altering the balance of the
conflict. Instead, the White House has suggested, they would be intended to
punish Assad for the alleged gas attack in Damascus on Aug 21 and to
reinstate Washington's "red line" against the use of chemical weapons.

But Gen. Keane said he understood Mr Obama was planning a more substantial
intervention in Syria than had previously been thought, with increased
support for the opposition forces, including training from US troops.

He said the plans could involve "much more substance than we were led to
believe".
[...]

- US general says Syria action could be 'more substantial than thought'
A former US army chief has claimed that Barack Obama is eyeing intervention
in Syria that would go beyond a mere deterrent against chemical weapons to
damage the military capacity of the Assad regime.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10282697/US-general-says-Syria-action-could-be-more-substantial-than-thought.html

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org