Monday, March 26, 2012

Oh No, Wouldn't Want to Militarize a War

The Obama administration is finally going to send communications gear and non-lethal aid to the Syrian rebels. On the other hand, the Obama administration is holding back more on the most ridiculous pretense:

US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed Sunday on the need to send "non-lethal" aid to Syrian rebels, including communications equipment, a US official said. ...

The rebels are badly outgunned by Syria's armed forces but the White House has said that it does not favour arming them, arguing that further "militarising" the conflict would worsen civilian bloodshed.

One, the war is on. Further militarizing it simply means giving the rebels more of a chance to fight back against the tanks, artillery, and helicopter gunships of the Assad regime. That would be a good thing and not a bad development.

And two, just what do the administration's big brains think communications gear and other supplies are supposed to do if not allow the rebels to fight more effectively?

But hey, I should rejoice that our policy is a little less stupid after this decision rather than complain too much that we aren't facing the bleeding obvious.