U.S. Restraint in the Syrian Crisis

The United States has reasons to exercise restraint as the war in Syria progresses, but Washington is facing domestic and international pressure to get involved in the conflict. The U.S. administration does not want Syria's massive and geographically dispersed chemical weapons stockpile to fall into the wrong hands or to be used at all. But comprehensively eliminating the chemical weapons threat would involve a large ground operation, which the United States is working to avoid. U.S. President Barack Obama could be forced to find a way to intervene without putting troops on the ground. If this proves to be the case, Obama has three broad options to address the situation in Syria.