Are Obama and America to Blame for Syria's Disaster?

"ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror" co-author Michael Weiss on how Obama allowed a bad situation to get worse in Syria.

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Are Obama and America to Blame for Syria's Disaster?

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"I'm out of solutions here," says Michael Weiss, a senior editor at The Daily Beast and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, widely viewed as the most comprehensive study of the brutal Islamist entity that controls a wide swath of land between Iraq and Syria.

Speaking with Reason TV about U.S. involvement in the disastrous Syrian civil war, Weiss laments, "I can speak glibly about no-fly zones, but at this point I just understand this administration is never going to do anything to rescue the Syrian people or prevent Assad, Iran, and Russia from killing everybody they want to."

Weiss, a foreign affairs reporter with extensive experience covering the Middle East and Russia, believes that the U.S. had options besides war that could have prevented the refugee crisis becoming the global fiasco it is today. But, charges Weiss, President Obama's determination to achieve a nuclear deal with Iran meant he refused to pursue policies that might disrupt Assad's Syria. 

With Russian jets bombing non-ISIS rebel groups in Syria and Obama leaving office in early 2017, Weiss "guarantees the following: Assad will still be in Damascus. ISIS will still be in Syria [and] eventually Russia will bomb ISIS, but they haven't really been doing it yet."

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher. Camera by Jim Epstein with help from Dan Rogenstein.

Music: "3 Days Until Resurrection feat SkyRider" by S.J. Mellia

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Comments

[ThomasD]

Putin will not make any substantial efforts towards reducing ISIS until he and/or ISIS have eliminated all other potential opposition to the Assad regime.

And even if he ever gets around to that his methods will involve subterfuge and using proxies to sow dissension more than direct military confrontation.

Putin will have an easier go in the middle east because he cares squat about international niceties or humanitarian concerns.

[FlorinNeamtu]

Putin will have an easier time because he is *actually* bombing the CIA/Mossad/Saudi-backed foreign mercenary terrorists Weiss wants to win.

http://www.counterpunch.org/20.....-in-syria/

http://leaksource.info/2015/01.....onnection/

Weiss is a neocon shill for Khodorovsky the criminal.

[DJF]

"""""I'm out of solutions here," says Michael Weiss, a senior editor at The Daily Beast""''""

Yet it does not stop him from wanting to continue to dig a deeper hole

Also why does he think that Russia should bomb ISIS first when looking at a map ISIS is not near any of the Syrian governments main areas of control and Russia openly admits that they are supporting the Syrian government.

[Suthenboy]

The only goddamn thing Obumbles has done right in the ME so far is not toppling Assad, and that is only by accident.

Toppling Assad would assure another Libya situation.

If I am wrong then someone please explain to me what toppling Assad would accomplish.

[Suthenboy]

Ensure. Ugh.

[GregMax]

Speaking of Libya . . .

[american socialist]

I'm for putting 150,000 troops in so we can overthrow the government and have democratic elections.

[DJF]

I am for drafting 150,000 American Socialists and sending them on a one way trip to Syria.

[soflarider]

They can set up a socialist utopia.

[pronomian]

Yea, I can see islam and socialism going well together.

[ThomasD]

No place indeed.

[american socialist]

Instead of this, why not send money to the radical feminist and communist group, YPJ. I have.

[ThomasD]

Why do communists need money?

[SusanM]

Worked so well the last time...

[american socialist]

I went to see country joe at my local Unitarian church about a year ago. Normally not my thing, but when he sang that song and thinking about all those people that died..... Yeah, what is the slogan? Hope has two beautiful children: anger and courage.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hey smart alec! I answered you about your reading skills in the AM links.

Of course. There was no response when you were called out.

[GregMax]

As sarcastic as your comment is, it is probably the best option in the long run. But, you probably wouldn't get that.

[Paper Wasp]

Yeaaahhh! Let's double down on costly strategies that have never worked! Team Murrika, fuck yeah, comin' to save the motherfuckin' day yeah!

[Intraveneous Woodchipper]

Oh kinda like the USSR did to Poland? You clever little Stalinist you!

[CatoTheChipper]

To a very large extent, the blame for one disaster after another rests with its inhabitants.

But Obama is to blame for making the Syrian disaster worse.

So is Bush. And Clinton. And Bush again. Etc. At least Reagan had the good sense to cut his losses.

The Middle East is a hornets nest. If one leaves a hornets alone, the hornets usually won't be much of a bother. Sure, one can use chemical weapons against a literal hornets nest and get rid of it, but I don't think WMD to just carpet-nuke the Middle East out of existence would be moral or prudent.

[DenverJ]

It would undoubtedly be immoral. I'm not so sure if it would not be prudent.

[psCargile]

According to theory of Generational Dynamics, no.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I think the part where Weiss highlighted Obama's duplicitous and contradictory statements was key. It does look like 'The chess playing Lightbringer' has no plan or isn't endowed with an enlightened foreign policy mind. He's just your run of the mill politician who chose a legacy - in this case Iran - and let his decisions flow from there.

Equally important, was the part about Obama - through his confused behavior - basically abandoned Syrians on the ground.

In this clip we see once and for all how pathetic this administration is in the world of Mid-East power politics.

Abysmal.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Oh. And I'd like to send props to The Daily Beast. Definitely one of the more credible and readable liberal sites around. No wonder with journalists like Weiss involved.

[Free Society]

He said it doesn't matter that the people the US was supporting are Islamists because "they're our guys" and it's just unconscionable that we effectively told them to go fuck themselves. It's as though he's unaware of how supporting Islamists with weapons, training and air support has worked out every other time it was tried.

[DarrenM]

That's more an argument for not 'adopting' them in the first place.

[Free Society]

And equally applicable for not continuing to support them either. I'm of a belief that Obama et al knew they were terrorists from the very beginning, but even supposing that he just happened to figure it out along the way, that should have been his cue to withdraw rhetorical and material support.

[CatoTheChipper]

I think the root of the problem goes back to the late seventies and eighties when the US supported Afghan mujahideen. This covert activity was regarded a success precisely because it created a chaos in Afghanistan that the USSR could not handle. The foreign policy objective was to create a Russian Vietnam, with all of the death and destruction that would entail. This was judged worthwhile since it coincided with the beginning of the end for the USSR, which was viewed as an existential threat to the US.

But the only lesson learned by these bozos was that arming batshit-crazy Muslim militants opposed to a regime that is opposed to the US can achieve US policy ends. The fact that it backfired in Afghanistan when the Taliban took over is forgotten. The bozos don't understand that Muslim militants are never moderate.

Or, it may be that the policy ends of the US political elite are quite different from those of the vast majority of sane, non-evil Americans. After all, Hillary Clinton has said her intervention in Libya represents "smart power at its best", which is an astounding admission considering the death, destruction, and chaos it has wrought in Africa. Then, the same State Department decided to do "smart power at its best" all over again in Syria. Maybe their ends are not those of "liberty and justice for all", or even stability, but rather death, destruction, and chaos.

[Loki]

Maybe their ends are not those of "liberty and justice for all", or even stability, but rather death, destruction, and chaos.

"Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from death, destruction and chaos." - Hillary Clinton Zorg

[DenverJ]

Great movie.

[DenverJ]

Great movie.

[Silverleaf]

"You're a monster, Hillary"

[bassjoe]

That region was a fucking mess centuries -- no, millennia -- before Columbus sailed west for parts unknown (at least, to Europeans). How exactly can we claim the US's actions (or inactions) over the past 4-5 years could have made this mess relatively "better" or "worse"? At the very very best, anything we could do would distract the inhabitants from their ancient grudges.

We should ditch our bizarre obsession with securing the birders states as drawn on maps

[DarrenM]

The involvement of the U.S. may or may not have made things worse/better than otherwise. By involving ourselves, we accepted a degree of obligation and responsibility for the mess. I suspect many will agree that this was probably not a good idea.

[DarrenM]

Addendum. It falls to perception. Whoever touches a problem last gets the blame. Also, it's very foolish to make promises or commitments you later back out of unilaterally. It destroys trust, which can be very valuable and difficult to recover.

[Free Society]

If Obama made a promise to some rebel group to send them weapons and munitions and then found out they're giving those weapons to al-Nusra and ISIS, or were themselves al-Nusra and/or ISIS, you're saying that he'd have an obligation to keep supporting them?

[docibevix]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.buzznews99.com

[hatt9]

Just the notion that Obama is to blame for the Syrian situation is laughable at best. It doesn't matter what course of action he takes, the right wing has to find a way to lay the situation at his feet. If he had sent troops into that quagmire, he would have been killed. The fact that he has provided air and drone and military equipment is not enough, for a GOP that has no answers or solutions to any of these conflicts. I say let Russia expend some of it's military complex, in fact let them have Syria altogether and then let them march across Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, while we exit the back door.

[GregMax]

I smell Democrat talking points . . .

[Res ipsa loquitur]

I guess you missed the latest White House talking point there comrade....president Obama is no longer withdrawing troops from Afghanistan......you sure you want the Russians to invade while he is sowing democracy all over the shit hole ?

[contrarian]

Did you even watch the video?

[Rockabilly]

Eh, still Booosh's fawlt !!!

[Septawn]

I think you have to weigh it. What's more important, the nuclear deal or overthrowing Assad. I'll take the nuclear deal. Iran isn't going away by taking out Syria and it isn't going to improve their disposition. Maybe they are being duplicitous now, but that wouldn't change if we took out their Syrian ally.

[contrarian]

Would overthrowing Assad have been good in itself? Feel-good, maybe.

[AD-RtR/OS!]

Well, Obama is, and that part of America that he actually listens to too.

[melpee]

Bribing Iranian leaders and their partners with 150 billion with their money was at the core of the Iran deal. They promised to never utter the word NUKE again for ten years. Israeli leaders also got a piece of the pie, with an estimation of 20 billion. Netanyahu promised to cool it and never to threaten Iran again. It was a win-win deal for clever politicians who split the booty.

[contrarian]

The thrust of this guy's argument is that the US could either stay out of Syria or topple Assad and piss off Iran (of course he fails to mention that this would create another power vacuum like the one that helped cause this mess). But he still says a no fly zone, which would have 'forestalled' the refugee crisis still pissed off Iran, would have been good. What? It was always a lose/lose situation for the Syrian people, but win-ish/lose for America.

[contrarian]

but* still pissed off Iran

[FlorinNeamtu]

This is absurd.

Weiss is another Jewish Zionist and neocon, an editor for the neocon revisionist flagship the Interpreter - essentially a dedicated anti-Putin propaganda {meaning the coverage isn't fair - it's always out to get Russia and Putin} rag funded and controlled by Mikhail Khodorkovsky - one of the Jewish oligarchs {why mention that - because almost all of the oligarchs who raped Russia under Yeltsin were Jewish as were their advisors in the West

http://www.softpanorama.org/Sk.....afia.shtml

You'll note that the NYT has much the same slant.

ISIS came "out of nowhere" with lots of equipment and a blitzkrieg style no one could stop. Indeed, remarkably, the US seemed unable to target ISIS as it rolled in a column from Iraq to Syria - a column of unmolested foreign terrorists.

[FlorinNeamtu]

Weiss acts like Putin is the bad guy in Syria. It was of course, after Iraq, and Libya, yet another regime change, regardless of the cost in blood, supported by US neocons - people who are adhering to some version of the Oded Yinon plan

http://www.historycommons.org/.....tancy_2049

http://leaksource.info/2015/01.....onnection/

The US, Saudis and Israel.... have directly supported Al Nusra/Al Qaeda and Israel has certainly, at a minimum, coordinated bombing with ISIS. It treats Al Nusra fighters in its Hospitals. Indeed, ISIS may very well - like the original Afghan Al Qaeda - literally been created by the CIA and/.or Mossad.

And for 18 months the US pretended to bomb them and now that Russia is killing mostly foreign mercs - guys like Weiss are upset.

Weiss is a liar. He is poison. Get the antidote at consortiumnews and zerohedge and global research and voltairenet - or, at least read them to counter this sort of neocon nonsense.

[FlorinNeamtu]

http://www.counterpunch.org/20.....-in-syria/

'ISIS' are largely paid mercs, not dedicated eeevil muslims -and many are running away.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/.....iran-close

[zuzidoyumo]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.buzznews99.com

[sotijoma]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.buzznews99.com

[bosusepiw]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.buzznews99.com

[Creeper]

of course they are to blame. when assad rebuffed qatar on their natural gas line to the EU, sunni saudia arabia and qatar decided to pay terrorists to start an uprising against one the most religiously tolerant "dictators" in the mid east. obama and his clown show sat on the sidelines agreeing to everything saudia arabia dictated. seeing shia iran , iraq and syria (with russia as contributor and benefactor) develop a stranglehold on natural gas to the world's biggest emerging market (the eu), is the last thing any of the sunni nations want to see. syria is the lynch pin for any pipelines going through the mid east. america needs to cut ties with saudia arabia, qatar and israel.