The US could, of course, have decided not to try and overthrow Assad, which did nothing but empower Islamic terrorists - who are still in control in Idlib.
Maybe one day we’ll avoid one of these idiotic conflicts because of muh evil dictator that cause far more destruction than the evil dictator. Libya is another case.
“The US could, of course, have decided not to try and overthrow Assad, which did nothing but empower Islamic terrorists - who are still in control in Idlib.”
Yes, the key mistake was the intentional western supported destabilization of Syria with the stupid idea that a western style democracy would spring from an opposition movement that was dominated by the Syria Muslim Brotherhood and supported by multiple groups of terroristic religious cousins. It gave ISIS in Iraq a chaotic military theater in which to recruit on an “opposing Assad” theme, which enabled them to grow strong enough in Syria to march back into Iraq with a battle hardened and trained force. It was dumb enought on that level, but just as dumb because instead of maintaining a stable and easily maintained security dynamic vis a vis Russian and Iranian support for Assad, both nations massively increased their presence in Syria, which would not have been the case had the status quo in Syria remained.
However, that is all in the past. The mistakes were done.
At least now our small (tiny) footprint of assistance to the Kurds of northern Syria keeps a U.S. foot in the door on any long term political settlement attempted by Russia, Iran and Assad acting in only their own interests.