Wednesday, November 16, 2016

President Obama Admits That His Strategy In Syria 'Has Not Worked'

US President Barack Obama arriving to address a news conference at the White House. Thomson Reuters

Business Insider: Obama admits his strategy in Syria 'has not worked'

This week, President Barack Obama admitted that the US had essentially been muscled out of Syria by being relegated to a diplomatic role in the country.

"With respect to Syria, in Benghazi we had an international mandate," Obama said at a Monday news conference, comparing the situation in Syria to the 2011 intervention against Libyan Col. Muammar Gaddafi. "We had a UN Security resolution. We had a broad-based coalition, and we were able to carry out a support mission that achieved the initial goal of preventing Benghazi from being slaughtered fairly quickly."

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WNU Editor: The White House has a Syrian strategy?!?!?! This blog follows wars and conflicts, and I still do not know what is the White House's Syrian strategy. The problem with President Obama's Syrian strategy has always been the same .... they cannot articulate in a few words what they want .... and by not articulating clearly what they want .... the follow-up and developing a strategy becomes a mess. On the opposite side President-elect Donald Trump's policy has been very simple and to the point .... destroy ISIS. One goal .... one priority .... make your strategy based on that goal and stay away from having multiple goals and objectives that will only confuse your objectives.

1 comment:

B.Poster said...

The basic premise has been flawed from the start. :Assad must go" was not and is not going to happen. The Russians will never allow this. Frankly I could have told team Obama this back in 2011 and saved us a great deal of trouble.

As to "destroy ISIS" this is a worthwhile goal. Since Russia and Assad are working towards this goal, it would make sense to work with them in this endeavor. Candidate Trump had this exactly right.

Now Assad is allied with Iran "death to America." As such, it does make sense that America would oppose him. In order to deal properly with Iran, we are going to need Russian assistance. As long as Iran has Russian backing, they are untouchable by us. Once Iran is properly dealt with we may be able to reach an agreement with Russia on Syria whereby there interests are represented and Assad can be eased from power.

For now, the main goal needs to be to destroy ISIS. In order to do this, working closely with the Russians will be required. Perhaps by adding value to the Russians they may assist us in solving other pressing issues.