C.I.A. Study of Covert Aid Fueled Skepticism About Helping Syrian Rebels

WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has run guns to insurgencies across the world during its 67-year history — from Angola to Nicaragua to Cuba. The continuing C.I.A. effort to train Syrian rebels is just the latest example of an American president becoming enticed by the prospect of using the spy agency to covertly arm and train rebel groups.An internal C.I.A. study has found that it rarely works.
The still-classified review, one of several C.I.A. studies commissioned in 2012 and 2013 in the midst of the Obama administration’s protracted debate about whether to wade into the Syrian civil war, concluded that many past attempts by the agency to arm foreign forces covertly had a minimal impact on the long-term outcome of a conflict. They were even less effective, the report found, when the militias fought without any direct American support on the ground.


The findings of the study, described in recent weeks by current and former American government officials, were presented in the White House Situation Room and led to deep skepticism among some senior Obama administration officials about the wisdom of arming and training members of a fractured Syrian opposition.

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Before you start arming groups in another country I know you need to analyze these things rigorously before coming to a conclusion on what to do, but I think history proves that these things dont work well and often times come back and bite us in the ass.

TheDemSocialist said:

Read more @: C.I.A. Study of Covert Aid Fueled Skepticism About Helping Syrian Rebels

Before you start arming groups in another country I know you need to analyze these things rigorously before coming to a conclusion on what to do, but I think history proves that these things dont work well and often times come back and bite us in the ass.

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I think you're right. Arming some rebels regardless of where gives those in charge a sense of doing something to combat someone/government/group that they think is evil or a danger to whomever, probably us. It also gives the rebels a false sense of hope. They receive the arms and think the United States is on their side and in the end will protect and defend them.

Personally in operations like these, I think if we are not willing to put some advisers, boots on the ground, doesn't matter if they're SF or paramilitary. The commitment has to be made by both sides or we should just leave well enough alone.

As for the Syrian Rebels, we really do not have that much reliable means to prove exactly whom they are or whom they affiliate with.

....They were even less effective, the report found, when the militias fought without any direct American support on the ground...

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You don't say?