Meanwhile in Syria

#3
#3
meet the new boss - same as the old boss

Instead, Mr. Obama decided to make the rebel training program a “covert action” run by the C.I.A. He signed a secret finding allowing the agency to begin preparing to train and arm small groups of rebels in Jordan, a move that circumvented the legal issues and allowed the White House to officially deny it was giving the lethal aid.
Besides the legal worries, there were other concerns driving the decision to make the program a secret.
As one former senior administration official put it, “We needed plausible deniability in case the arms got into the hands of Al Nusra.”
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#7
#7
I really find criticism of generic foreign policy in the ME to be a bunch of crap. Of course its a quagmire. It has always been a quagmire. It will always be a quagmire.

Don't get me wrong: its an important region and we have to play the game. But being such a harpie because it hasn't been figured out, and the strategy is constantly having to be revised, meh, par for the course over there.

Its one of the reasons I am starting to come around to y'all's way of thinking when it comes to the pipeline.
 
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#8
#8
I thought a military quagmire was our present plan--to weaken both sides.

At any rate, one question the above link raises for me is if the 2011 intelligence assessments that Assad's days "are numbered" were based on an assessment of the fighting? Or if it was based on the general thrust of the "Arab Spring"?

Either way, a bad call.
 
#9
#9
lawgator1 said:
I really find criticism of generic foreign policy in the ME to be a bunch of crap. Of course its a quagmire. It has always been a quagmire. It will always be a quagmire.

Don't get me wrong: its an important region and we have to play the game. But being such a harpie because it hasn't been figured out, and the strategy is constantly having to be revised, meh, par for the course over there.

Its one of the reasons I am starting to come around to y'all's way of thinking when it comes to the pipeline.
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I'm a firm believer in bleeding them dry of every drop of oil they have and cutting the umbilical when we're done.

But Syria doesn't exactly have anything we need. Plus alienating the only truly reliable ally we have over there (Israel) at the expense of getting involved in a civil war just isn't good politics or diplomacy.

Let the Syrians figure it out on their own, make contact with the new government if the rebels happen to win. Keep Israel in our back pocket. Everyone wins.
 
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#10
#10
lawgator1 said:
I really find criticism of generic foreign policy in the ME to be a bunch of crap. Of course its a quagmire. It has always been a quagmire. It will always be a quagmire.
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I hate to break the news to you, but there will never be peace in the Middle East.


Golda Meir once said that..

“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” As long as Palestinians are strapping bombs to their children and teaching them to hate Jews, that will never happen.

NEVER
 
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#11
#11
lawgator1 said:
I really find criticism of generic foreign policy in the ME to be a bunch of crap. Of course its a quagmire. It has always been a quagmire. It will always be a quagmire.

Don't get me wrong: its an important region and we have to play the game. But being such a harpie because it hasn't been figured out, and the strategy is constantly having to be revised, meh, par for the course over there.

Its one of the reasons I am starting to come around to y'all's way of thinking when it comes to the pipeline.
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The criticism is not policy but policy making. Almost all accounts rate Team Obama poorly on this count.

As a side note, Obama was a harpie about Bush policy (as were you) so if that type of criticism isn't legit then consider yourself and Barry guilty.
 
#12
#12
Worth noting that America's Syria policy (along with Egypt and Iran) is irritating the Saudis.
 
#14
#14
lawgator1 said:
I really find criticism of generic foreign policy in the ME to be a bunch of crap. Of course its a quagmire. It has always been a quagmire. It will always be a quagmire.
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I can't seem to find it, but I'm damn near certain you posted the same thing during the Bush administration.

Could be wrong though. :whistling:
 
#15
#15
IBlvNTmWrk said:
I can't seem to find it, but I'm damn near certain you posted the same thing during the Bush administration.

Could be wrong though. :whistling:
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Were you under a different user name during the Bush admin? Just noticed your join date was in mid 09.
 
#16
#16
There are a couple million Syrian refugees, many of them camped in Jordan. Why shouldn't we train a select 50,000 or so of them? Training refugees is not distributing weapons. Why do people talk as if they cannot understand that? When the bad guys are all fought out, an army of good guys will be ready to roll. Why are the VN mopes badmouthing that plan?
 
#17
#17
Hey everybody, I got my third star! Vol Main was no effing good two star. Now I am somebody!
 
#18
#18
volinbham said:
I did think it interesting that SA and Qatar? were urging action and we refused. I thought that's how we got into Libya?
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And the Europeans.

A lot of EU oil came from Libya. France and Italy were leading the charge on that one.
 
#19
#19
lawgator1 said:
I really find criticism of generic foreign policy in the ME to be a bunch of crap. Of course its a quagmire. It has always been a quagmire. It will always be a quagmire.

Don't get me wrong: its an important region and we have to play the game. But being such a harpie because it hasn't been figured out, and the strategy is constantly having to be revised, meh, par for the course over there.

Its one of the reasons I am starting to come around to y'all's way of thinking when it comes to the pipeline.
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The strat is easy..leave. Let Israel do their thing. :salute:
 
#24
#24
Velo Vol said:
Worth noting that America's Syria policy (along with Egypt and Iran) is irritating the Saudis.
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Of course they are since it was our responsibility to do the dirty work for them and the American people called them on it

Getting involved in Syria would have been a nightmare
 
#25
#25
utvolpj said:
Getting involved in Syria would have been a nightmare
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I have this funny feeling we aren't done with that particular geographic location just yet...

Someone had egg on their face when the Russians came in and trumped us. And a huge ego is a terrible thing to waste.
 
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