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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRobert Parry: Eyes Finally Open to Syrian Realities
from Consortium News:
Eyes Finally Open to Syrian Realities
October 3, 2014
Exclusive: For the past three years, Official Washington has viewed the Syrian civil war as white-hatted rebels against black-hatted President Assad, but finally some of the gray-hatted reality is breaking through, though perhaps too late, Robert Parry reports.
By Robert Parry
In late summer 2013, Official Washington was rushing to the judgment that the evil Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had launched a barrage of missiles tipped with Sarin gas to slaughter hundreds of civilians in rebel-held neighborhoods near Damascus.
It was inconceivable to virtually every person who mattered in Washington that there was any other interpretation of the events on Aug. 21, 2013. Washington Post national security columnist David Ignatius even explained the big picture reason why President Barack Obama needed to launch punitive bomb strikes against Assads government for crossing Obamas red line against using chemical weapons.
What does the world look like when people begin to doubt the credibility of U.S. power? Ignatius wrote a week after the Sarin incident. Unfortunately, were finding that out in Syria and other nations where leaders have concluded they can defy a war-weary United States without paying a price.
Using military power to maintain a nations credibility may sound like an antiquated idea, but its all too relevant in the real world we inhabit. It has become obvious in recent weeks that President Obama needs to demonstrate that there are consequences for crossing a U.S. red line. Otherwise, the coherence of the global system begins to dissolve. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2014/10/03/eyes-finally-open-to-syrian-realities/
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Robert Parry: Eyes Finally Open to Syrian Realities (Original Post)
marmar
Oct 2014
OP
KoKo
(84,711 posts)1. Maybe Joe Biden wasn't "Off Message"
with his rant on Turkey he had to apologize for? Could it have been a set up for getting interest in revealing what Parry is calling attention to at the end of his article(referencing back to Sy Hersh's earlier article) about Turkish Intelligence meddling?
Snip from the Parry article:
But the neocons are not through with the Syrian fiasco that they helped create. They are now busy reshaping the narrative accusing Obama of waiting too long to arm the Syrian rebels and insisting that he switch from bombing Islamic State targets inside Syria to destroying the Syrian air force and creating a no-fly zone so the rebels can march on Damascus.
The recklessness of that strategy should now be obvious. Indeed, if Obama had succumbed to the interventionist demands in summer 2013 and devastated Assads military, we could now be seeing either al-Qaeda or the Islamic State in control of Damascus. [See Consortiumnews.coms Neocons Noses into the Syrian Tent.]
Obama might be wiser to take this opportunity to declassify the U.S. intelligence on the Sarin gas attack of Aug. 21, 2013, including the dissents from CIA analysts who doubted Assads responsibility. That information might shed substantial new light on how Turkish and Arab intelligence services with the help of the neocons enabled the rise of the Islamic State.
The recklessness of that strategy should now be obvious. Indeed, if Obama had succumbed to the interventionist demands in summer 2013 and devastated Assads military, we could now be seeing either al-Qaeda or the Islamic State in control of Damascus. [See Consortiumnews.coms Neocons Noses into the Syrian Tent.]
Obama might be wiser to take this opportunity to declassify the U.S. intelligence on the Sarin gas attack of Aug. 21, 2013, including the dissents from CIA analysts who doubted Assads responsibility. That information might shed substantial new light on how Turkish and Arab intelligence services with the help of the neocons enabled the rise of the Islamic State.