Pentagon Shoots Down Kerry’s Syria Airstrike Plan

June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Twenty years ago, in a debate overthe war in Bosnia, Madeleine Albright, then the U.S. ambassadorto the United Nations, issued a challenge to the chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell. Albright wanted theU.S. to confront an aggressive Serbia; Powell and the Pentagonwere hesitant. Albright grew frustrated: “What’s the point ofhaving this superb military that you’re always talking about ifwe can’t use it?” Albright asked. Powell later said that hethought Albright was going to give him an aneurysm.

Flash-forward to this past Wednesday. At a principalsmeeting in the White House situation room, Secretary of StateJohn Kerry began arguing, vociferously, for immediate U.S.airstrikes against airfields under the control of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime -- specifically, those fields it has usedto launch chemical weapons raids against rebel forces.