I kept hoping the US would wake up and send troops to aid Syria and support Bashar al-Assad. Not that he’s a good guy. He’s a tyrant and responsible for many human rights violations. But, his government is the one stabilizing force capable of holding Syria together.
It’s true in the very beginning there were moderate rebels trying to overthrow Assad. That ship sailed long ago. The radical Muslims (primarily ISIS and Al-Qaeda) have long dominated the Syrian rebellion. Not to mention the PKK (Turkey’s mortal enemy) is gaining power. The worst thing that can happen IMHO, would be for Assad’s government to fall. That opens the door for the same chaos happening in Iraq and Libya right now. All three groups will just run rampant and grab power in various parts of that country. They’ve already got power in a few areas.
We had the chance to side with Assad. Do what’s necessary to hold that country together. How many fractured Middle East countries does Washington think can exist? Iraq, Libya, and Syria can’t all be destroyed and left to every crack pot that wants to grab power. By now we should have realized how badly we fucked up taking out Saddam. Now we are equally determined to take out Assad and leave that country in chaos.
So Russia is sending combat troops to fight side by side with the Syrian troops. Doing exactly what we should have done a year ago. Now Assad will be Putin’s debt and loyal to him. Good going Washington. You screwed up Middle East policy yet again. btw, any idiots in Washington remember that Syria sent troops to aid Desert Storm in 1991? yes , they did. We sure know how to return a favor don’t we?
Long term is this good or bad that Russia is taking the lead in supporting with combat troops? Are they there only to support Assad or replace him with a puppet of their choosing?
Let 'em! The worst outcome: they suffer a lot of casualties and are embarrassed. The best outcome: less suffering in Syria!
If they want to play “world policeman” for a spell, I’m all for it. I can seriously hope they meet with some real success, stabilize the region, reduce the levels of oppression and reprisal, and make the region slightly less of a cesspool.
It involves propping up a tyrant, but at least it would cut down on his incentive to wage war against his own people. A stable tyranny has a few advantages over a chaotic tyranny.
Bashir has used WMD on his people. The revenge driven bloodshed that will likely follow his victory might be horrendous. On the other hand what are the other options? Apart from a UN led invasion and occupation I see no options here that will actually help the Syrian people and allow the refugees to return.
It boggles my mind that the OP is so much more alarmed by a goon formerly employees by Whole Foods as a security guard than he is by a murderous dictator who has on his hand the blood of a few hundred thousand civilians.
As though ISIS and AQ have not been matching Assad murder for murder? And please do not forget that ISIS officially sanctifies such extra-political atrocities as the rape of children.
Then there is the added factor of ISIS and AQ representing an international menace. Anything but them, including Russia, who we can cut Russian off conventionally at the Straits any time we want to.
There’s no easy answers in Syria. Like it or not the revolution there has been hijacked by ISIS and Al-Qaeda. They are executing people every day and enslaving the population with their hard line Sharia law.
If Assad’s government falls then who maintains order? Certainly not the US. We already abandoned Iraq and we know what happened there. His government was quite stable and could be again. They are capable of governing after the rebels are defeated. Will they trample human rights? Absolutely. Pick you poison, ISIS or Assad? They both murder people. I still think Assad is the lesser of the two evils.
There was a chance the situation could have been improved had the US aided Assad a year. There was a chance to cut a deal. We help him restore order in return for not imposing harsh penalties. It’s too late now. Russia is his new ally. Nobody knows what they want in return for helping him.
I’m really curious what’s in this for Russia. They aren’t dedicated to spreading Communism anymore. Clearly Putin wants a spot on the world’s stage. A strong Russia makes him popular at home and elevates him as a world leader.
But why Syria? There’s no guarantee Russia won’t get mired in the conflict and spend years fighting in Syria just like the US did in Iraq.
Why pick either? Its not so bad that they are bleeding each other dry. Let the fight stay over there. Let the Russians come in and watch ISIL shift terror to their country. The only real answer is for the international community to come in and reestablish order. But that isnt going to happen. This probably would have been better in GD because there are more foreign policy debators over there.
It definitely looks like the US fucked up by taking out Hussein, but the biggest mistakes were made after the taking of Baghdad.
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003 to 2005 by Thomas E. Ricks is a pretty damn good book and the title sums up the US involvement brilliantly.
Dude, Russia & Syria have been allies for decades. It’s the Number 1 reason we didn’t come out big in support of the Syrian rebels; if we had, it would have started a proxy war w/ Russia that probably would have spilled into Israel and a larger ME war.
No, it’s not immediately obvious to me that supporting Assad in crushing the rebels would have been a better long-term play for American Interests. Now that ISIS has entered the game, I think letting Russia jump into the middle of this three-way is a great move.
Putin is being very clever. he will pose as defender of the ME Christians, and he can devastate ISIS with modern weapons. I hope he uses total brutality to crush ISIS-that means destroying anyone who gives them aid and support. Vlad Putin may well come out a hero-and make Obama look foolish and ineffective. Go Vlad!
Exactly. As much as Obama doesn’t want to hear this, Assad is very clearly the less-evil choice, and we should be supporting him, and give up on the “moderate” rebels who to be frank are a sorry joke that everyone can see hasn’t got a prayer.
