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Former CIA Director Goss says US support for Syrian rebels may be 'too little, too late'
The Obama administration may have already missed its chance to intervene in a meaningful way in the Syrian civil war that has been raging for the past 20 months, former CIA Director Porter Goss said Monday.
“Well, obviously there’s a huge problem in Syria, and the USA is the world’s most prominent power to deal with anything like that — actually, other people usually sit on the sidelines until we get involved one way or another — so I think that it’s very important for us to not just stand by,” Goss told Fox News Radio. “In fact it may be too little too late at this point, given the fact that over 40,000 people I’m told have been murdered or killed in events over there.”
Goss's comments come as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels to Morocco on Tuesday for a meeting of the U.S.-backed Friends of Syria. Clinton, who delayed her trip by a day because of a stomach illness, is expected to recognize a newly formed Syrian National Alliance that excludes al Qaeda sympathizers as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people during her visit.
“The problem with regime change is you have to decide what comes next is better,” he said. “And we’re learning, not necessarily to our benefit, that in places like Egypt that maybe what was there before to preserve the stability wasn't quite as bad as we thought, given the way we seem to be headed now, like in some place like Syria and Egypt, pick your spot.”
Goss served in the House of Representatives as a Republican from Florida from 1989 through 2004. He served as CIA director from 2004 to 2006.
