Panetta: Syria no-fly zone not on front burner

[No Elephants]

Aug 14, 3:12 AM EDT

Panetta: Syria no-fly zone not on front burner

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says plans to set up a no-fly zone over parts of Syria are "not on the front burner," despite persistent calls from rebel forces there that they need the added protection from escalating regime airstrikes.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Panetta said he is confident the U.S. could successfully enforce a no-fly zone over Syria, but doing so would require a "major, major policy decision" that has not yet been made.

"We have planned for a number of contingencies that could take place and one of those possible contingencies is developing a no-fly zone. But we've also pointed out difficulties in being able to implement that," Panetta said. "It's not on the front burner as far as I know."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said recently that Washington and Turkey are discussing a range of steps, including a no-fly zone over some parts of Syria. Rebel leaders have expressed frustration that the United States has limited its assistance to non-lethal aid.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PANETTA_AP_INTERVIEW?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-14-03-12-21

Did Panetta go out of his lane and mess up Hillary's diplomatic efforts?

[Enthusiast]

1. What's wrong? No oil? nt

[No Elephants]

2. Who knows?

Syria has a little oil, but not much.

Enough to make Assad rich, but under 1% of the world's production.

We are already stretched out.

Russia is an ally of Syria. Does anyone really want to see Russia and the U.S. nose to nose again?

Obama got sued for not getting Congressional authorization before going into Libya (or only over Libya, depending upon whom you believe).

Would he get risk getting sued again if he unilaterally established a no fly over Syria?

Can he get Congressional auth if he seeks it? If he seeks it and gets turned down, can he survive that loss of face, especially at re-election time?

Is there any political or monetary gain to be had by going into Syria?

People have been saying that it is unclear how much support the rebels actually have from the Syrian people. I don't know if that is true, or something shills say to explain why we remain on the sideslines.

I don't know how we find out the truth of anything these days. Maybe we never did and I was just naive.

Who knows?

Do I hear the sound of water swirling?

[Enthusiast]

3. This is the key.

"I don't know how we find out the truth of anything these days."

Me too.