The correct policy on Syria
- Don Juice
- Feb 4, 2017
- 2 min read
Syria is a very complex situation and there is no easy answers however I believe there is a correct strategy that Trump can adopt that would be beneficial to American interest, and I will admit there may be holes in the strategy and it’s not perfect but it’s better than the status quo. This is a two point plan consisting of dropping the call for Assad's removal and continuing attacks on Al-Qaeda/ISIS.
Let’s be clear, Assad is the only viable option for Syria and Trump was right when he acknowledged this and questioned who the rebels were because as we know it’s full of jihadist and the so called moderates or secularist are too few. Though I acknowledge it started off as a secular revolution with real grievances. Some argue well "Assad is bad and commits war crimes", well I agree but so does Saudi Arabia but we support them and their crimes in Yemen so what Russia is doing with Syria is what we are doing with them. Also, Saddam was bad as well however as you can see, Saddam’s Iraq was better than what’s going on now and the same with Gaddafi and Libya. The point is, we shouldn’t support the overthrow or removal of dictators just because they’re bad especially when the alternative is worse and we hypocritically support dictators ourselves. Also we should let Russia pick up the pieces in Syria since Assad is their puppet. There were talks brokered by Russia in Astana with rebels about the nationwide ceasefire to help pave the way for the planned Geneva talks on February 20th. As America we should always support democratic causes worldwide that align with our values but trying to forcibly get rid of individuals with no viable alternative is counterproductive.
This brings me to my next point which would be to continue striking ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Right now we are supporting the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) who have made considerable gains in the fight against ISIS and these rebels are the only true reliable and capable organization that we know for sure isn’t islamist considering the fact it’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious. Right now they are preparing to move on Raqqah the capital for ISIS, so we definitely should be supporting them and continuing to go after ISIS as a whole. Al-Qaeda has embedded itself within the rebel coalition and recently joined another coalition due to infighting to make itself more grassroots and to stay low-key but we should go after their leadership through drone and sometimes commando strikes. Let the Syrian army supported by the Iranians and Russians fight and take ground from them.
In conclusion we should only look after our goals in Syria and stop pushing for regime change. We are doing great work in Iraq and on the verge of completing the mission there in Mosul. But when it comes to Syria we should let the Russians and Iranians sort things out while we continue to go after ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
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