Washington reviewing war plans for Syria: Report
Iran Press TV
Tue Aug 27, 2013 12:19PM GMT
A report shows the United States is reviewing its military options for war against Syria when a former US Navy planner questioned the effectiveness of surgical strikes on Syrian targets.
"Tactical actions in the absence of strategic objectives is usually pointless and often counterproductive," Chris Harmer, a senior naval analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Foreign Policy’s The Cable.
"I never intended my analysis of a cruise missile strike option to be advocacy even though some people took it as that," he added.
The US is getting closer to military action in Syria after Secretary of State John Kerry was beating the drums of war when he accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons.
"The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable and - despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured - it is undeniable," Kerry said on Monday.
Following Kerry’s statement, US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power repeated the same allegations against Syria.
"Haunting images of entire families dead in their beds. Verdict is clear: Assad has used CWs against civilians in violation of int'l norm," Power said in a tweet posted Monday evening.
Harmer, who is called the architect of Syria war plan, also explained about his “cruise missile strike option” for Syria.
"I made it clear that this is a low cost option, but the broader issue is that low cost options don't do any good unless they are tied to strategic priorities and objectives," Harmer said. "Any ship officer can launch 30 or 40 Tomahawks. It's not difficult. The difficulty is explaining to strategic planners how this advances US interests."
The naval analyst said that Syrian forces have “an incredible capacity to endure pain.”
"Punitive action is the dumbest of all actions," he said. "The Assad regime has shown an incredible capacity to endure pain and I don't think we have the stomach to deploy enough punitive action that would serve as a deterrent."
On Tuesday, Syria said Kerry's insistence on "jumping over" the work of UN experts, who are in Syria to investigate last week’s chemical attack, shows that Washington has deliberate intentions to exploit events.
Sen. Bob Corker, who was briefed by administration officials twice over the weekend, said a US "response is imminent" in Syria.
AGB/AGB
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
