(1.8.2016) In effect, the CIA’s top guy in Syria made-up the agency’s ‘regime-change’ strategy in the country on the fly. No wonder it failed so badly.

The concluding line from Laux’s actual classified plan, circulated widely among intelligence officials, summarised the end goal of CIA covert action in Syria at the time (2012) and is presented in the book as:
„[this is] what must be enacted to achieve the desired result of removing President Bashar al-Assad from power.“

According to the New York Times, then CIA Director David Petraeus adopted some of Laux’s recommendations on arming “moderate” rebels. Ironically, Laux would later conclude of the jihadi rebels which came to dominate the war:
„there were no moderates.“