Posted on 09/03/2015 7:01:41 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Syria’s civil war seems unstoppable. In four years, it has killed 250,000, displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, and given birth to the Islamic State, which promises to conquer the region and inspire lone-wolf terrorist attacks throughout the Western world.
The Obama administration has managed to keep the United States from a third major conflict in the broader Middle East, but its Syria policy has otherwise struggled. President Bashar al-Assad did not, as expected, tumble from power as his money ran out and his army collapsed. Efforts to create a moderate military opposition have generally failed. The Geneva peace process, intended to fashion a new coalition government, has gone nowhere. The new American-Turkish plan to create a safe zone in northern Syria may not amount to much, given the lack of available forces to establish and protect it. And even with a settlement, who will keep the peace in a country where the Syrian army has so much blood on its hands, the Islamic State and the al-Qaeda affiliate known as al-Nusra are so extreme in their ideology, and the moderate opposition is so weak and fractured?
To envision how the Syrian civil war might ultimately end, it’s helpful to think through how civil wars end in general, and then ask which approach might apply in this case.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
With what’s left of it they might as well bulldoze the whole country, put in a bunch of desalinization plants and make beaches.
“The Obama administration has managed to keep the United States from a third major conflict in the broader Middle East, but its Syria policy has otherwise struggled.” In WaPo speak that means total Obama failure.
The Obama administration's failure to leave a stabilizing US force in Iraq is largely responsible for the savage turn taken by the Syrian civil war and the greater war in the area involving ISIS and other factions.
We need to support and arm the Christians.
I can’t read more than a sentence or two of this dribble. Who writes this stuff? Do they really get paid, or is this their high school essay?
Oldplayer
Really absurd to pretend Obama's policies have been a success.
Here’s an excellent analysis:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/17335#.VcN_CecViUk
“We need to support and arm the Christians.”
Under this administration?
0bama’s only long term strategy is destroying America.
This will antagonize Shiite Iran and their Hezbollah troops. Fueled with new revenues released by Barack Obama and John Kerry, The Iranians will re-arm, reinforce, and re-supply Hezbollah, instigating further chaos along sectarian lines.
Michael O’Hanlon is a career flunkie from Brookings Institution who has been all over every side of the Mideast since before the Iraq war began. He basically is a hired gun, and will write whatever slant you want from him.
Maybe to free Syria so the thousands of refugees can return, ISIS does have to be dealt with, I suppose Assad is a bit of a problem too. Israel does retaliate at times against Syria who is a proxy for Iran.
Under any administration. Granted the present muslim one will not do so.
The Muslim will not do it.
No he won’t nor will his marxist party..
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