Liberals arguing that the U.S. should give weapons to Syrian rebels underestimate Assad's power

[pelsar]

7. your arguing that the left should be pragmatic...

but you've to two parts there:
ending a war sooner and creating a democratic society.

and ending the war has nothing to do with the creation of a democratic society...in fact i wonder if the opposite is true. a long drawn out war might (and you'll forgive my future reading abilities here) might allow the opposition to become organized, to be armed with western conditions so that a new taliban, new zimbabw, new iran does not rise up out of the ashes of the resistance. that this resistance be taught the ways of democracy. Create local governing councils (similar to the Palestinians of Intifada I) with a unified leadership..again as per the Palestenian intifada I model.)

he i just found a new job for hanna ashwari
*note this is not to draw in the I/P conflict here, just a notation that there is a model to perhaps use.....

the "new model" of NATO bombing for 6 months killing untold numbers just to finish the war quicker only to install a theocratic govt or breaking up Libya into fiefdoms is not really a good solution.