Quote Originally Posted by ganulv View Post
What about rewording “we want to deter Assad” to “we want Assad deterred.” The ultimate deterrence might be the threat of direct intervention by the militaries of neighboring countries and/or loss of support from Iran. Non-clandestine U.S. involvement threatens to introduce a whole ‘nother political dimension to whether that might happen, doesn’t it?
I am not sure it does. It is not like the players on the world stage (both state and non-state) believe that we are doing nothing behind the scenes. Overt action at least does not allow for wild speculation.

Consultation with key players (particularly Russia) can limit "damage". We have to keep their interests in mind.