This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
As journalist Robert Parry pointed out, "Official Washington's most treasured 'fantasy' ... is the notion that a viable 'moderate opposition' exists in Syria or could somehow be created. That wish-upon-a-star belief was the centerpiece of congressional [approval in September 2014 of] a $500 million plan by President Barack Obama to train and arm these 'moderate' rebels."
Even Pentagon-friend Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies recently conceded that "what is very clearly not happening is there has not been any meaningful military action or success on the part of any of the rebels that we have trained."
Cordesman described the state of play in Syria as "convoluted," noting that "In addition to Iran's involvement in the conflict, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have all sponsored armed groups in Syria, making it a surreal proxy playground, even by Middle East standards."
Yet, this past week, the "moderate" Syrian rebels sprang back to prominence, at least in the mainstream U.S. media, when Russian planes began bombing targets associated with the Army of Conquest, a coalition which is dominated by Al Qaeda's Nusra Front. This militant coalition suddenly was redefined as "moderate," as part of the argument that Russia should only be attacking Islamic State targets.
The U.S. media also has downplayed where the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) came from. It was an outgrowth of the Sunni resistance to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 when the group was known as "Al Qaeda in Iraq." It later splintered off from Al Qaeda over a tactical dispute, whether a fundamentalist Sunni caliphate should be started now (the ISIS view) or whether the focus should be on mounting terror attacks against the West (Al Qaeda's view.)
Putin Chides US Failures
Putin reminded the world of this embarrassing history -- and other damaging consequences of U.S. interventionism -- during his Sept. 28 speech to the UN General Assembly when he noted: "The so-called Islamic State has tens of thousands of militants fighting for it, including former Iraqi soldiers who were left on the street after the 2003 invasion.
"Many recruits come from Libya whose statehood was destroyed as a result of a gross violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1973. And now radical groups are joined by members of the so-called 'moderate' Syrian opposition backed by the West. They get weapons and training, and then they defect and join the so-called Islamic State. ...
"I'd like to tell those who engage in this: Gentlemen, the people you are dealing with are cruel but they are not dumb. They are as smart as you are. So, it's a big question: who's playing whom here? The recent incident where the most 'moderate' opposition group handed over their weapons to terrorists is a vivid example of that."
The UN speech was not the first time Putin complained about the way U.S. officials have presented the factual circumstances of the Syrian conflict. On Sept. 5, 2013, he publicly accused Secretary of State John Kerry of lying to Congress in exaggerating the strength of "moderate" rebels in Syria.
Alluding to Kerry's congressional testimony, Putin said: "This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them [the Americans], and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad." [See Consortiumnews.com's "Rebuilding the Obama-Putin Trust."]
But the pretense continues. Obama knows only too well the sorry state of the handful of intrepid "moderates" that may still be operating within Syria. By the same token, he does not need Putin to tell him of the danger from ISIS or Al Qaeda if these Sunni extremists (either separately or together) march into Damascus.
So the question becomes: Will Obama bring himself to see Soviet military intervention as a positive step toward stabilizing Syria and creating the chance for a political settlement or will he cling to the "Assad must go" precondition, rejecting Russia's help and risking an ISIS/Al Qaeda victory?
This Time the Russians Can Stop Us
There is another element here, creating an even graver risk. It is no longer 1991 when the triumphant neocons brushed aside hopes for global military de-escalation and instead pressed for worldwide U.S. military dominance. Under Putin, Russia has made clear that it will no longer sit back and let U.S. and NATO tighten a vise around Russia's borders.
Regarding its "front yard" in Ukraine, Putin has sharply admonished those in the West who "want the Ukrainian government to destroy ... all political opponents and adversaries [in eastern Ukraine]. Is that what you want? That's not what we want and we won't allow that to happen."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
5
2
2
