Because Obama stopped short of direct military intervention, much of Washington's strategy in Syria was carried out covertly by the CIA. And now that the plan has (largely) failed, the CIA has decided to throw Obama under the bus:
According to a former CIA operative, the CIA had a plan to "peacefully resolve" the conflict in Syria, but Obama "declined" to implement it:The CIA in 2012 proposed a detailed covert action plan designed to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, but President Obama declined to approve it, current and former U.S. officials tell NBC News.
In plain English: According to the CIA, Obama only wanted to arm and train rebels, and refused to bribe members of Assad's government. This, according to the CIA, is the reason why Syria is now such a mess.Elements under discussion at the time included not only bolstering Syrian rebels, but pressuring and paying senior members of Assad's regime to push him out, the former officials said. The idea was that the Syrian civil war could then have been peacefully resolved--a huge uncertainty.
[The CIA operated who proposed the plan] ultimately resigned in frustration โ over that and other issues --after it became clear the Obama administration would not move forward.
What a load of utter garbage. Using its client states as a front, the US paid Syrian government officials to defect. The CIA's plan was fully implemented. As the National Interest wrote in February:
The US did everything it could to oust Assad, short of an actual land invasion. The idea that the CIA's strategy in Syria failed because Obama didn't let the Agency bribe government officials is absurd. Bribes were offered, but it had almost no impact.It is no secret that the Saudis and Qataris, with full U.S. support, have tried to bribe some of Assad's innermost circles to defect. The all-important professional military cadre of the Syrian Arab Army, however, has remained thoroughly loyal.
What we're witnessing is a coordinated campaign by the CIA to distance itself from its own disastrous plan in Syria.
Thanks to the CIA-controlled stenographers in the US media, Americans are now supposed to believe that the CIA had to work in Syria with one arm tied behind its back. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The CIA failed in Syria. And now the Agency is backstabbing Obama.
We recommend staying away from grassy knolls, Mr. President.
Maybe this refers to an area connected to the assasination of JFK. "Does "acoustic evidence" show a shot from the Grassy Knoll?" [Link] In other words, the author is implying that the CIA, or sections of it, are so pissed off that they will give Obama a bullet from a Grassy Knoll. Obama is no Kennedy, but this does not exclude he will get a treatment. In the case of Kennedy he probably disagreed with someone, whereas in the case of Obama it is more likely that his handlers probabaly do, considering that US foreign policy in recent years has shown sign of having no central command, with figures like John McCain playing there own sligthly different game.