“There’s been talk about helping provide some assistance to the
resistance movement inside Syria. On the other hand, they are not a
organized group,” Thornberry aid on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal”
Wednesday. “You also have to be very careful in that area about the
domino effect.”
Thornberry said he is concerned that destabilization within
Syria could have a ripple effect in Lebanon and Jordan and
cause a flow of refugees into Turkey or Iraq.
“I don’t think any of us should be cavalier about saying, ‘Yeah, we need
to go get that guy,’ ” Thornberry said, referencing Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad’s continued government crackdown and killing of
civilians.
The Pentagon is looking into possible military options in the region,
CNN reported on Wednesday, though the Obama administration remains focused on
diplomatic solutions.
U.S. officials described the Pentagon review as a routine
planning exercise to give President Obama options if he wants them,
according to CNN.
The Texas congressman took a more reserved stance than some of his GOP
colleagues on the use of military force, telling C-SPAN that it’s not
yet “clear” to him whether the United States should intervene.
“Its not clear to me; we need to be a little more clear than I think
we are now what difference our military involvement would mean and
what sort of military involvement we’re willing to do,” he said.
Several lawmakers began calling this week for military alternatives to
be put on the table.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), ranking member of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday that “we should start
considering all options, including arming the opposition. The
blood-letting has got to stop.”
Thornberry said the regional complexities and potential domino effect
make the situation in Syria “infinitely more complex” than in Libya,
where U.S. and NATO military involvement helped topple the Moammar Gadhafi
regime last year.
“The Syrian regime is even more difficult and obviously incredibly
brutal, willing to kill however many people it takes in order to hold
on to power and we know have chemical, biological weapons, so there
are some different dimensions here that I think we ought to be careful
about,” he added.