and could use the help.

Not today. Today Assad is our ally, as is Khomeine....

"States have neither enemies nor friends, only interests."

The only thing that has changed is that blowback from the Syrian intervention (by Saudis Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and us) now threatens the government in Iraq as well.

That said, we are truly in bizarro world now We are effectively allied with Assad, Maliki, and Iran against ISIS, while at the same time, we are attempting to overthrow Assad and believe Iran is the bogeyman.

Our policy in the region seems incoherent and self-contradictory. Again, I feel sorry for Obama. The whole region seems to be a seething cauldron right now. And all Obama wanted was to pivot to the Pacific.

For a while, England was paying subsidies to both the Hashemite al'Husseini and ibn'Saud, while those two fought open battles with one another.

People who are not quick on their feet and able to change face on a second's notice have no business in the region.

At least now there is a small amount of deniability.

Imagine if America had *officially* supplied arms to the rebels, who then turned around and invaded Iraq!

Of course, it's even more absurd to supply them with arms now.

People here might have little understanding of the various rifts and divides, but the locals appreciate them keenly. Free Syrian Army types, and others, have been engaged in combat with the I.S.I.L. people for a couple of months at least.

Factions hide their intentions.

Bigger factions take over smaller factions.

I understand it well enough.

it is a matter of plain, well-known fact that the various factions opposing Assad could have a dandy civil war all on their own. It is not a sham put on to deceive or impress outsiders.

ISIS have the best propaganda, organization and motivation.

The "good" rebels could find themselves forced into an alliance with the "bad" rebels if Assad still manages to gain the upper hand (and with Russian and Iranian backing, why wouldn't he) or the "bad" rebels may simply decide to overpower the "good" rebels and take all those shiny new toys.

I'm so confused

It was easy to follow along when you had yer Axis of Evil to be Smoked Out

I totally agree with everything you wrote.

you have to be a really blind or adoring follower type to support some of this crap Obama has done.

I have it on good word that the rebels will institute a Solar Panel on Every Rooftop initiative along with providing free college tuition for women.

Might as well throw it all in the toilet.

poverty or rebuild infrastructure.

The $500 million will 1) go down a rat hole or 2) will eventually land in the hands of ISIS/Al Qaeda groups or 3) throw more gasoline on the Middle East fire or 4) some combination of the first three.

Whatever fireworks we shoot off ineffectively in Syria will have to be replenished by the US taxpayer, and the money goes to US defense contractors, who would take serious issue with you calling them a rat hole.

I argue semantically that they are rats, and not simply the dwelling place for vermin.

always.

The govt is not "good". IMO, if we pick a side, we're gonna get burned no matter which side we pick. Best to stay out of the fight.

I mean that seriously. Do we trust CIA intelligence to tell us which ones are the "good" ones. Do they wear a special color? What's the hand sign for the good ones? I'm not convinced we won't be giving weapons to ISIL, or Al Quaida, or some other jihadists.

I believe him. Why would he lie?

"You are with me or you are with the terrorists." He learned from the master.

Suicide bombings of civilian areas, executions of civilians and POW, alliances with Al Qaeda, "liberating" civilian areas that are opposed to them etc etc. These guys are bad bad guys and the US should have nothing to do with them. Btw I have video evidence that the FSA engage in suicide bombings.

But since the whole Middle East is now a global proxy war- why the heck not?

Not like our government would take the high road...

Did John McCain vet them for us? Regardless, I think this war has gone long enough and I am sure the majority of the Syria people want this stalemate to end. The rebels are not going to topple Assad so why not just give up and spare the Syria people more death and destruction?