Stay Out of Syria, Mr. President

It appears that the President is going to use his Commander-in-Chief authority to supply  Al Qaeda the rebels in Syria with an as yet undetermined stock of weapons in their fight to throw over the Assad regime.  Presumably this is in part due to the reports last week of Assad's forces once again gaining the upper hand in the conflict.  The precipitating action however, is Syria's reported use of chemical weapons, resulting in the deaths of at least 100 people.

The administration should not have announced this move, for it is unwise.  Here are a few reasons why.

1.  If the deaths of 90,000 Syrians from means other than chemical weapons were insufficient rationale for American involvement, however slight, then the use of chemical weapons (reported) seems a ridiculous distinction to make for the trigger of US involvement.
2.  We will surrender the right to lecture the Russians not to re-supply the Assad regime with advanced weaponry.
3.  We really do not know who the rebels are, or what they want, or what kind of country they wish to or are capable of creating.  We are choosing chaos and mayhem, over a devil we know.  I don't see it as a good choice.
4.  If we were to supply the rebels, it should have been done clandestinely.  There is an argument that says it is in our interest for this conflict to continue, bleeding Syria (and its Hizbolllah/Iranian allies) at the same time Islamic militants are bled by Assad's forces. 
5.  Our interest in the area is the security of Israel and Jordan.  We should only act if we believe these interests to be threatened.

Now is the time for the US to keep its powder dry for larger, more important things (read: Iran).  We cannot continue to dissipate our power on sideshows.