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Left on its current course, America's sensibly cautious policy toward Syria is unfortunately going to come to an unhappy end: The jihadist wing of the opposition will just get stronger, and gain more power to shape Syria's future.

But what's the right alternative? How can the U.S. help the Syrian opposition while avoiding another costly military intervention in the Muslim world?

I've been puzzling over this dilemma since traveling into Syria two weeks ago with the Free Syrian Army. "Be careful" still seems like the right watchword for U.S. policy in an unstable, revolutionary situation where order could collapse like a Levantine version of "pick-up sticks." But caution doesn't mean inaction, and some modest changes in U.S. policy could make a big difference...