Late last month at a conference in Aspen, Kerry emphasized the importance of defeating ISIS and Al Nusra along with "a couple of subgroups" such as Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham. The statement was accurate since both groups are indeed allied with Al Nusra.
But administration officials pronounced themselves "baffled" because the official line is the opposite. "For months, we've been arguing to make sure the Russians and the Syrian regime don't equate these groups with the terrorists," a senior administration official told the Washington Post. "Kerry's line yields that point."
In fact, Kerry has been so concerned about protecting such groups on other occasions that he asked Lavrov last month not to bomb Al Nusra in Aleppo for fear of hitting pro-U.S. forces fighting side by side. Evidently, terrorists and non-terrorists are so intermingled that even Kerry has trouble telling them apart. [See Consortiumnews.com's "Hillary Clinton's 'Entangled' Foreign Policy."]
So the U.S. condemns Al Qaeda except when it fights alongside pro-U.S. groups, at which point it begs Russia to leave it alone. The Obama administration claims to combat Islamic State except when it is marching against Palmyra, at which point it calls off the F-16s so ISIS can continue on its way. The U.S. backs "moderate" rebels except when they slit the throat of 12-year-old boys, at which point it promises to do something ... soon.
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