Press Release
Earlier this month, Professor Stephen Walt shared his perspectives with the Harvard Kennedy School communications office on the deepening Syrian conflict. He discussed the role of the United States in the conflict, Assad's supporters, aid from the international community and more. Read an excerpt of the conversation below, and click here for full access to the Q&A.
"Q: How credible is President Obama’s assertion that he will consider aiding the rebels?
A: It is fully credible, but only in the narrow sense that it would force the president to rethink his prior position. He did not commit to taking any specific action in response to possible chemical weapons use, and would undoubtedly want to consider the various options in light of the overall situation prevailing at the time. And it's a mistake to put too much weight on the chemical weapons issue. Chemical weapons are bad news, but they are not as lethal or as dangerous as nuclear weapons. Moreover, the Assad regime was already using military force against civilians without much restraint, and more than 70,000 people had been killed. So it is not obvious that possible chemical weapons use is as much a "game changer" as the president initially suggested.
Q: What types of military aid could and would the United States provide? Would other countries follow in kind?
A: The United States could provide the opposition with many types of equipment, ranging from communications devices to small arms to heavy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles. Some of these items are already being provided by some other countries, and the United States is probably facilitating such efforts in various ways. But sending a lot of additional firepower to Syria is not a good idea in the long-term. We do not know enough about the various contenders for power, and there's no way to prevent any weapons we might send now from falling into the wrong hands or being used for different purposes later. We might also be fueling the same sort of conflict that engulfed Lebanon in the 1970s or Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion. For these reasons, the Obama administration has been reluctant to provide the rebels with lots of lethal aid, and appropriately so."
Click here for the full Q&A with Professor Walt.