President Barack Obama inched further toward intervening in Syria’s bloody civil war on Tuesday by requesting that the Pentagon draw up plans for a viable no-fly zone across the conflicted country that would be enforced by the U.S. and other countries like France and the United Kingdom.
“The White House is still in contemplation mode but the planning is moving forward and it’s more advanced than it’s ever been,” an anonymous administration official told the Daily Beast‘s Josh Rogin. “All this effort to pressure the regime is part of the overall effort to find a political solution, but what happens if Geneva fails? It’s only prudent to plan for other options.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who secretly crossed into Syria to meet with rebel leaders this weekend, said that the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs remain opposed to a no-fly zone.
“One thing about the Pentagon, if they don’t want to do something, they will tell you all sorts of reasons why they can’t do it,” McCain said, according to the Beast. “It’s going to take significant pressure for them to come up with realistic plans. They will invent ways for us not to do it until the president of the United States says we’ve got to do it.”
Update: A Pentagon spokesman has refuted a portion of the Daily Beast report:
Pentagon spokesman Dave Lapan sent the following statement to The Daily Beast after this story posted: “There is no new planning effort underway. The Joint Staff, along with the relevant combatant commanders, continue to conduct prudent planning for a range of possible military options.”
