Shoud The U.S. Send Shoulder Fired Anti-Aircraft Missiles To Syria's Rebels?

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White House Debates ‘Game-Changer’ Weapon For Syria -- Michael Crowley, Time

White House officials are weighing whether to send surface-to-air missiles to opposition factions at the risk of a possible terrorist "nightmare"

A former CIA director has called them “our worst nightmare.” A 2005 study found that just one could blow a $15-billion hole in the world economy. And the Obama Administration is thinking about sending them to Syria.

They are shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, capable of knocking helicopters and low-flying planes out of the sky. Syria’s rebels and their Arab government backers insist those weapons could decisively reverse the momentum in Syria’s three-year civil war, which may recently have shifted in favor of Bashar Assad’s regime.

“The introduction of manpads could be a game-changer in Syria, like it was in Afghanistan in the 1980s with Stinger missiles,” an Arab official tells TIME, adding that he believes the Obama Administration has begun discussing the idea more seriously. Other sources say the issue is being debated at the White House, but that strong doubts remain about the wisdom of providing missiles to the rebels.

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My Comment: From a military point of view (supplying Syria's rebels with these missile systems) .... this may make sense. But from an anti-terrorism point of view .... the idea that Al Qaeda off-shoots may get their hands on such weapons .... the prospects are truly frightening.