AZJoe
09-21-2016, 07:17 AM
Time to Admit Washington’s Syria Policy Has Gone Completely Off the Rails
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2016/september/20/time-to-admit-washington-s-syria-policy-has-gone-completely-off-the-rails/
Fifteen years, hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars later, the United States’ war on terror has spawned more instability, violence and chaos than we could have imagined … Today, jihadist terror groups control more territory and are more of a threat to the world than they were on September 11, 2001. …
[Washington] claimed its primary aim in Syria is to “degrade and destroy” ISIS - but instead of allying with the Syrian army … has spent years backing opposition “moderate rebel” forces who are fighting Bashar Assad’s government forces. … Washington is backing the groups that are attacking the army which is best positioned to defeat ISIS. …
The US supports the rebel forces in pursuit of … Syrian regime change. … [Washington]-backed rebel forces are not “moderate” … They have fought alongside and “intermingled” with Al-Qaeda’s … Jabhat al-Nusra (recently rebranded Jabhat Fateh al-Sham). … Washington’s [in]ability to disentangle the so-called “moderate” rebels from the extremists. So far, no such disentanglement has taken place … [Washington] has little to no control over its proxies. …
Little more than a week after Washington and Moscow negotiated a new ceasefire deal … coalition forces bombed a Syrian military base on the outskirts of the city of Deir ez-Zor … The strike allowed ISIS militants to almost immediately, temporarily overrun Syrian army positions in the area. … [Washington] admitted that it was responsible for the strike …
in striking the Syrian base and thereby aiding the ISIS advance, the US was defending the terrorist group. The Syrian General Command called the bombing “blatant aggression,” and “conclusive evidence” the US was supporting ISIS militants against Assad’s army. … Washington’s refusal to fully coordinate bombing and targets with Russia. … Machon, says it’s “unbelievable” the strike could have been a mistake … just a few weeks ago, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell had strongly advocated the US kill both Russian and Syrian forces …
More evidence of the disarray of [Washington] policy was seen in the town of al-Rai on the Turkish border a few days ago when a small group of US Special Forces on the ground were threatened and run out of the town by rebel forces who called them “infidels” and “pigs” and told them to prepare for their slaughter. … Rebel forces which the US has been actively arming and funding … “a very embarrassing scene” for [Washington] …
Knowing their strategy is in tatters … US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power showed up … and accused Russia of “moralizing and grandstanding” over the strike … going so far as to call … an emergency UN Security Council meeting a “stunt” - four times. Instead of trying to calm tensions, Power “threw a monkey wrench” into the whole thing and “should be fired” … Just imagine the tables had been turned and during a supposed ceasefire Russia had illegally bombed American allies? No doubt, Power would be the first one in line for the moralizing and grandstanding party.
What is Washington’s endgame here? … is he just trying to run out the clock until he hopes the problem becomes Hillary Clinton’s to deal with? Whatever the plan is, it’s well past time to re-evaluate.
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2016/september/20/time-to-admit-washington-s-syria-policy-has-gone-completely-off-the-rails/
Fifteen years, hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars later, the United States’ war on terror has spawned more instability, violence and chaos than we could have imagined … Today, jihadist terror groups control more territory and are more of a threat to the world than they were on September 11, 2001. …
[Washington] claimed its primary aim in Syria is to “degrade and destroy” ISIS - but instead of allying with the Syrian army … has spent years backing opposition “moderate rebel” forces who are fighting Bashar Assad’s government forces. … Washington is backing the groups that are attacking the army which is best positioned to defeat ISIS. …
The US supports the rebel forces in pursuit of … Syrian regime change. … [Washington]-backed rebel forces are not “moderate” … They have fought alongside and “intermingled” with Al-Qaeda’s … Jabhat al-Nusra (recently rebranded Jabhat Fateh al-Sham). … Washington’s [in]ability to disentangle the so-called “moderate” rebels from the extremists. So far, no such disentanglement has taken place … [Washington] has little to no control over its proxies. …
Little more than a week after Washington and Moscow negotiated a new ceasefire deal … coalition forces bombed a Syrian military base on the outskirts of the city of Deir ez-Zor … The strike allowed ISIS militants to almost immediately, temporarily overrun Syrian army positions in the area. … [Washington] admitted that it was responsible for the strike …
in striking the Syrian base and thereby aiding the ISIS advance, the US was defending the terrorist group. The Syrian General Command called the bombing “blatant aggression,” and “conclusive evidence” the US was supporting ISIS militants against Assad’s army. … Washington’s refusal to fully coordinate bombing and targets with Russia. … Machon, says it’s “unbelievable” the strike could have been a mistake … just a few weeks ago, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell had strongly advocated the US kill both Russian and Syrian forces …
More evidence of the disarray of [Washington] policy was seen in the town of al-Rai on the Turkish border a few days ago when a small group of US Special Forces on the ground were threatened and run out of the town by rebel forces who called them “infidels” and “pigs” and told them to prepare for their slaughter. … Rebel forces which the US has been actively arming and funding … “a very embarrassing scene” for [Washington] …
Knowing their strategy is in tatters … US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power showed up … and accused Russia of “moralizing and grandstanding” over the strike … going so far as to call … an emergency UN Security Council meeting a “stunt” - four times. Instead of trying to calm tensions, Power “threw a monkey wrench” into the whole thing and “should be fired” … Just imagine the tables had been turned and during a supposed ceasefire Russia had illegally bombed American allies? No doubt, Power would be the first one in line for the moralizing and grandstanding party.
What is Washington’s endgame here? … is he just trying to run out the clock until he hopes the problem becomes Hillary Clinton’s to deal with? Whatever the plan is, it’s well past time to re-evaluate.