CIA: US SECURITY IS BIGGEST LOSER OF SYRIA WAR
Washington, 3 Syawwal 1434/9 August 2013 (MINA) – The war in Syria poses the greatest threat to US security because of the risk of the government falling and the country becoming a weapons-rich haven for Al-Qaeda, a CIA official says.
CIA second-in-command Michael Morell gave the assessment in an interview published Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal as he prepares to retire after 33 years with the agency, the Middle East Online quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Morell said there are now more foreign fighters flowing into Syria each month to take up arms with Al Qaeda-affiliated groups than there were going to Iraq to fight with Al-Qaeda at the height of the war there.
The Syrian government’s weapons “are going to be up for grabs and up for sale” as they were in Libya when Moamer Gathafi fell, he added.
“It’s probably the most important issue in the world today,” he said of the war in Syria, “because of where it is currently heading” — toward the fall of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, according to Morell.
Morell also said the violence in Syria has the potential to spill across borders into Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
Morell told the Journal that second on his list was Iran, followed by the global Al-Qaeda threat, North Korea, and cyberwarfare.
On Al-Qaeda, he said the United States had “significantly degraded” the group’s capabilities in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But the terror network has also scored victories, such as its dispersal, which he said has spread its ideology and global reach.
Morell will be replaced by Avril Haines, a 43 year old White House lawyer.
More than a year after the Tunisian uprising kicked off the Arab Spring, Syrians seeking to overthrow authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad face an increasingly violently crackdown from his regime. As many as 100,000 Syrians have died in the fighting since March.
However, outside efforts to assist oppositions forces have been complicated, most recently with Russia and China’s rejection of a United Nations Security Council resolution on the matter.
Though Western intervention in Libya was deemed largely successful in bringing down Muammar Qadhafi, many wonder whether such a tack is feasible in Syria. The post-revolution instability in Egypt only adds to their concerns. Others claim that the United States has a moral imperative to step in to stop the escalating humanitarian crisis. (T/P04/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
