Top Links: The ‘best option in Syria’ may be an oxymoron

Top story: Even as Congress approves light arms shipments to Syria’s rebels, a fresh warning about “boots on the ground” comes as the White House appears to be changing its message.

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• You can almost hear Washington collectively remember — “Oh, riiiight” — as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff reminds everyone that another military adventure in another Middle East country will cost — initially — thousands of troops and tens of billions of dollars. (Washington Wire)

• “BREAKING: Every military option in Syria sucks” (Foreign Policy)

• The problems are the money and manpower problems of Afghanistan and Iraq. Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Martin Dempsey, for instance, warns that thousands — a very vague “thousands” — would be required to control chemical weapons, protect neighboring allies and establish no fly zones. (The Guardian)

• And then there’s the money problem. Controlling Syria’s chemical stockpiles? That’ll cost you $1 billion a month. (Ernesto Londoño)

• Buffer zones to protect Turkey and Syria? That’s another billion dollars a month. (Bloomberg)

• A no-fly zone? Oh, you know that’s gonna cost a billion dollars a month. (Spencer Ackerman)

• And there’s still the billions for training, advising and assisting the opposition as well as conducting limited strikes. (DoD Buzz)

• Worse, as General Martin Dempsey writes in the report, “Once we take action, we should be prepared for what comes next.” (Council on Foreign Relations)

• “We could inadvertently empower extremists or unleash the very chemical weapons we seek to control.” (Kasie Hunt)

• This may help explain, as the New York Times notes, why the White House has begun to qualify its words on kicking Assad out of Syria: (emphasis ours) “While there are shifts in momentum on the battlefield, Bashar al-Assad, in our view, will never rule all of Syria again.” (The New York Times)