<blockquote>'..President Obama’s national security team overwhelmingly supported providing arms to the rebels in Syria. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told a Senate committee that he and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, backed a plan that would have vetted, trained and armed selected opposition groups, which have been pleading for such U.S. support for more than a year. According to the New York Times, the strategy was developed by former CIA director David H. Petraeus and supported by former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.
As Obama administration officials have frequently said, the longer Bashar al-Assad’s regime survives, the worse the outcome will be for Syria, its neighbors — all of which are U.S. allies — and the United States. Failure to back more moderate forces, which have been chronically short of effective weapons, will prolong the war..'
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Why did Mr. Obama overrule his advisers on Syria? 2013/02/07</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
'..the government of President Bashar al-Assad was "not serious about making reforms".'(Syria) - Culture in defiance - 'Continuing Traditions of Satire, Art and the Struggle for Freedom in Syria'</blockquote>