Policy & Strategy

The Topline: A top U.S. military commander on Thursday warned that Syria would descend into a spiral of sectarian violence that would likely tear the country apart if President Bashar Assad were to fall from power.

"I would not be surprised to see Syria break apart entirely," said Adm. James Stavridis, NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and head of U.S. European Command, about the country’s post-Assad future in an interview with The Atlantic.

Stavridis made the comments as the White House is weighing action against Syria’s leaders following reports of chemical weapons use and with the Pentagon and U.S. agencies already preparing transition plans for a post-Assad Syria.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) all said Thursday the White House should put military pressure on the Syrian regime by arming rebel groups or launching airstrikes against the country's defenses.

The battle between the Sunni-dominated Syrian opposition and Assad's forces has increasingly turned to a stalemate, as government troops batter rebel units with airpower, heavy artillery and possibly chemical weapons, according to U.S. intelligence reports.

But Assad has also carved out significant support among the country's ruling Alawite population, a strain of Shiite Islam the Assad family practices, in western Syria.

When Assad falls, Middle East watchers fear it could invite a prolonged civil war as Sunnis and Alawites square off to fill the power vacuum in the country, mirroring the bloodshed seen in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

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House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) is preparing to include legislation to strip military commanders’ ability to overturn guilty verdicts in this year’s defense authorization bill.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) told The Hill that the bill he authored with Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) to remove the ability of commanders to set aside verdicts would be incorporated in the authorization bill and has the support of the chairman.

A spokesman for the committee confirmed that McKeon was working to include the Turner-Tsongas initiative in his markup of the authorization bill, which sets Pentagon policy.

The legislation is intended to ensure lawmakers get advance notice of missions to kill or capture terrorists.

A top U.S. military commander on Thursday warned that Syria would descend into a spiral of sectarian violence that would likely tear the country apart if President Bashar Assad were to fall from power.

"I would not be surprised to see Syria break apart entirely," said Adm. James Stavridis, NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and head of U.S. European Command, about the country’s post-Assad future in an interview with The Atlantic.

The secretary of State said the U.S. has made its concerns about the sales “crystal clear.”

A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday went to the Senate floor to call on President Obama to take tougher action against Syrian President Bashar al Assad, including arming his opposition and possibly missile strikes.

In a colloquy, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) all said Obama should put military pressure on the Syrian regime by arming rebel groups fighting the Assad regime.

Graham and McCain have long been hawkish on Syria, but the pressure from Levin and Menendez points to growing support in Congress for tougher actions against Syria.

McCain even suggested that the U.S. could use precision strikes to target Syria's ballistic missiles and chemical weapons.

A group of lawmakers from both the House and Senate are headed to the White House Thursday for a meeting about sexual assault in the military.

Senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen, the first lady’s chief of staff and director of the president's Council on Women and Girls, are leading the meeting, according to a White House official.

President Obama — who is not attending because he is en route to Texas — on Tuesday called on the military to do more to address the problem of sexual assault in the military.

Advocates for reform have significant differences over what steps should be taken to resolve the military's sexual assault problems.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday endorsed stripping military commanders of the ability to overturn guilty verdicts.

The Topline: The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday heard publicly its first eyewitness accounts of last year’s attack in Benghazi, Libya, as the State Department’s deputy chief of mission in Libya fought back tears in an emotional recounting of the terrorist attack.

Gregory Hicks gave a lengthy account of how he tried to secure the State Department’s staff in Tripoli while he relayed messages to Washington.

He said that he spoke briefly with U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, who was one of four Americans killed in the attack.

“Greg, we’re under attack,” Hicks said he remembers Stevens telling him on the phone in his last moments before the connection was lost. 

Hicks was one of three witnesses testifying before the Oversight Committee on Wednesday, which has investigated the Obama administration’s handling of the attack.

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