p
Trump is absolutely right on Syria
Syria been a Russian Client state since the 1950s. We weren’t there fighting Isis. We were running guns from Libya to Syria to “arm the freedom fighters” and topple Assad. It was “regime change” again
It wasn’t foolish to break up the Ottoman Empire- salvery, on which it depended- could no more be a valid basis for an empire.
Though the lines they drew were selfish and foolish.
Just an opinion.
The article sunk completely when it asserted breaking up the Ottomans was a bad idea.
“And Mr. Erdogan’s grandiose nationalist ambitions could be usefully satisfied by urging him to extend his influence over the Sunni Muslims of Iraq and Syria, leaving an autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq. With Hezbollah thus starved and discouraged in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza, a Palestinian settlement and a stable Lebanon could finally be possible”
That part from the author is more than mere wishful thinking.
Tha Arabs of the Gulf States and the Saudis - all Sunni and Arab - will continue to have more influence with the Sunni Muslims of Iraq and Syria, than will the Turks. That influence, regardless of its outside source, will not displace Russia and Iran in Syria, and THUS Hezbolla will not be starved or discouraged in Lebanon, nor Hamas in Gaza (both bow with Iran as their main support), leaving a settlement with Israel and Palestine no closer.
After the US invasion of Iraq, Assad had to balance two things - he wanted to (1) inflict chaos in Iraq to discourage the US from moving on to Syria and (2) sic his home-grown Sunni Arab jihadists - who view Alawites like him as apostates to be killed on sight - on to a powerful enemy (the US) that would eliminate his jihadist problem for him. His problem is the classic one - when two of your enemies fight, one almost always comes out victorious and, in many cases, stronger. In Iraq, the jihadists won, by driving the US out. Their accumulated expertise, gained against the most sophisticated military machine in the world, made short work of a Syrian military that defected en masse because it was majority Sunni Arab, as opposed to the Syrian leadership, which is overwhelmingly Alawite, with a few token Sunni Arabs entrusted with little real power.
https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/us-didnt-create-isis-assad-and-saddam-did-daniel-greenfield/
[Before the Islamic State’s current incarnation, it was Al Qaeda in Iraq and its pipeline of suicide bombers ran through Syria with the cooperation of Assad’s government.
Assad and Al Qaeda in Iraq had a common enemy; the United States. Assad had a plan to kill two birds with one stone. Syrian Islamists, who might cause trouble at home, were instead pointed at Iraq. Al Qaeda got manpower and Assad disposed of Sunni Jihadists who might cause him trouble.
Meanwhile Al Qaeda openly operated out of Syria in alliance with the Baathists. While Syria’s regime was Shiite and Iraq’s Sunni, both governments were headed by Baathists.
The Al Nusrah Front, the current incarnation of Al Qaeda in the area ever since the terror group began feuding with ISIS, named one of its training camps, the ‘Abu Ghadiya Camp”. Abu Ghadiya had been chosen by Zarqawi, the former leader of the organization today known as ISIS, to move terrorists through Syria. This highway of terror killed more American soldiers than Saddam Hussein had.
The Al Qaeda presence in Syria was backed by Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, who had served as Director of Military Intelligence and Deputy Defense Minister. His real job though was coordinating Islamic terrorist organizations. During the Iraq War, he added Al Qaeda to his portfolio.
Handling terrorists without being burned is a tricky business though and the blowback kicked in.
In 2008, a US raid into Syria finally took out Abu Ghadiya and some of his top people. A year later, General Petraeus warned that, “In time, these fighters will turn on their Syrian hosts and begin conducting attacks against Bashar al-Asad’s regime itself.”
Shawkat was killed by a suicide bomber three years later. Assad’s support for terrorists had hit home. Those Sunni Islamists he had sent on to Iraq who survived returned with training and skills that made them a grave danger to his regime.
Exactly as Petraeus had predicted.]
One day, when the truth is spoken on the MSM channels, (not holding my breath) President Trump will be lauded as the greatest President in modern history. If Trump were treated the same way as the worst President in US history (obama) then things could be even better but since the activists who call themselves journalists won’t do that; we can still enjoy all the winning despite their nonsense.
Doing the job Anti-Americans and neocons won’t do. Making peace and getting our troops out of harms way while creating an economy with the lowest unemployment rate in the USA for 50 years. I’d say that’s a lot more than anyone else has done and he’s only had less than 3 years so far.
The only people not happy are the war machine people. No wars; no profits.
Of course all the TDS afflicted people hate it because it makes Trump look good.