How fortunate are the Republican legislators, presidential candidates, and pundits who can sit back comfortably and rattle their sabers while the Obama administration muddles around hopelessly in Syria and Iraq! A grand fuck-up it is, and so it shall be, barring, say, Divine Intervention, or something equally unlikely.
Remember those "moderate" rebels we were going to train, and who were going to beat back the assorted Islamists who have nothing in common save hating our guts? According to today's Times, there are exactly 54 of them, and their leader and his lieutenant just were kidnapped by Al Nusra. Then, in order to get Erdogan to let us use Turkish airfields to bomb what I shall henceforth call "the Islamist State" (aka all that other stuff), the Obamites have to sort of ignore the fact that the Turks are not especially attacking IS targets, but reserving their firepower for the Kurds, previously the most effective force against IS.
One reason we have been so unsuccessful in recruiting anti-IS fighters is that we refuse to go after the Assad regime, presumably because Assad is fighting IS. Well, Mr. President, the PKK aligned militias under bombardment by Turkey are fighting IS too, Turkey wants Assad overthrown, Assad has committed war crimes, and nobody is supporting him but Iran. Oh, wait! I forgot that the Iranians are not quite so bad as they used to be.
Personally, I believe that the Kurds, PKK affiliated or not, are the only ones in the region worthy of support, and I sincerely hope they manage to carve out an independent Kurdistan from the shit gumbo the USofA is haplessly wading through in the Middle East. I understand that Turkey has to remain in NATO for various geopolitical reasons, but maybe it's time for another secularist military coup over there. Where's the goddamned CIA when you need it?
Showing posts with label al Nusra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label al Nusra. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2015
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Syria
I don't imagine anybody is surprised that the Syrian "peace talks" failed. Syria is a mess.
Now the Obama administration is being pressed to "do something," but it's very unclear whether anything at all can be done. The Free Syrian Army is a joke; ISIS is operating across a completely porous Iraqi border; al Nusra, the al Qaeda affiliate al Qaeda still recognizes, is not up to defeating Assad's forces, especially if it has to simultaneously fight off ISIS; Assad has been strengthening his position, backed by Hezbollah, the Iranian QUDS force, and a lot of heavy armament from Russia.
Clearly, Americans have no stomach for military action after losing both in Iraq and, soon, Afghanistan. We might give the Saudis the go-ahead to provide more advanced weapons to rebel groups, but knowing the Saudis, the weapons will wind up in the hands of jihadis.
The only positive contribution by the United States I can imagine is a broad increase in humanitarian aid for the vast numbers of refugees in Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Lebanon — but providing that aid should not involve any branch of the armed forces. Given how the Agency for International Development has had close ties to the CIA throughout its history, AID also might be a bad choice.
The best bet would be to channel additional aid through organizations already on the ground, like the Red Crescent and Doctors Without Borders. Nobody in the Middle East wants any more Americans wandering around.
Now the Obama administration is being pressed to "do something," but it's very unclear whether anything at all can be done. The Free Syrian Army is a joke; ISIS is operating across a completely porous Iraqi border; al Nusra, the al Qaeda affiliate al Qaeda still recognizes, is not up to defeating Assad's forces, especially if it has to simultaneously fight off ISIS; Assad has been strengthening his position, backed by Hezbollah, the Iranian QUDS force, and a lot of heavy armament from Russia.
Clearly, Americans have no stomach for military action after losing both in Iraq and, soon, Afghanistan. We might give the Saudis the go-ahead to provide more advanced weapons to rebel groups, but knowing the Saudis, the weapons will wind up in the hands of jihadis.
The only positive contribution by the United States I can imagine is a broad increase in humanitarian aid for the vast numbers of refugees in Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Lebanon — but providing that aid should not involve any branch of the armed forces. Given how the Agency for International Development has had close ties to the CIA throughout its history, AID also might be a bad choice.
The best bet would be to channel additional aid through organizations already on the ground, like the Red Crescent and Doctors Without Borders. Nobody in the Middle East wants any more Americans wandering around.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)