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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsChaos in Syria, Part II – Destruction, ISIS and Beyond
http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/01/31/chaos-in-syria-part-ii-destruction-isis-and-beyond/As stated before in Part I of this two-part series, the redrawing of the Middle East has been in the U.S. radar for a long time. Quoting Wesley Clark again, he was told in 1991 by the prominent Neocon and then #3 official in the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz: One thing we did learn from the Persian Gulf War is that we can use our military in the Middle East and the Russians wont stop us. And weve got about five or ten years to clean up those old Soviet client regimes Syria, Iran, Iraq before the next great superpower comes on to challenge us.
Syrian President Assad knew he was on the crosshair of the US military, so he actually tried to court the US and the European governments. After 9/11, he cooperated extensively with the FBI and the CIA, giving them valuable information on Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda who were covertly operating in the Syrian/Iraqi borders.
But all his efforts were like a rabbit trying to make friends with a hungry lion. Before the dust settled on the shock and awe campaign against Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration had labeled Syria a rogue nation and threatened it with sanctions, which came into force the next year. By 2005, the Bush administration had withdrawn the U.S. ambassador from Syria. Thats when the regime change apparatus and programs were switched on.
After decades of regime changes around the world, the program has been fine-tuned into an algorithm. Enticing top political and military leaders to defect, funding grassroots opposition movements on the ground, arming militants, waging propaganda war, stirring up religious and social tensions are all standard protocols in a regime change operation.
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Chaos in Syria, Part II – Destruction, ISIS and Beyond (Original Post)
eridani
Feb 2016
OP
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)1. Assad has plenty of opposition in his own country
There's no doubt about his brutality in dealing with anyone opposing him.
He also has a lot of support, including from minority groups he's protected. Right around the corner from me are a couple of stores owned by Syrian immigrants. I've gotten to know them, and know they are Assad supporters. Not surprising for Syrian Christians from Homs.
eridani
(51,907 posts)2. Sad to say that it seems only dictators can protect minorities in the ME.
Black Africans have mostly left Libya, and Iraq's Christian community has been destroyed.