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Post by Daniel on Sept 4, 2015 10:25:18 GMT -5
The horrific results of Obama’s failure in Syria
By Michael Gerson September 3, 2015
One little boy in a red T-shirt, lying face down, drowned, on a Turkish beach, is a tragedy. More than 200,000 dead in Syria, 4 million fleeing refugees and 7.6 million displaced from their homes are statistics. But they represent a collective failure of massive proportions.
For four years, the Obama administration has engaged in what Frederic Hof, former special adviser for transition in Syria, calls a “pantomime of outrage.” Four years of strongly worded protests, and urgent meetings and calls for negotiation — the whole drama a sickening substitute for useful action. People talking and talking to drown out the voice of their own conscience. And blaming. In 2013, President Obama lectured the U.N. Security Council for having “demonstrated no inclination to act at all.” Psychological projection on a global stage.
Always there is Obama’s weary realism. “It’s not the job of the president of the United States to solve every problem in the Middle East.” We must be “modest in our belief that we can remedy every evil.”
But we are not dealing here with every problem or every evil; rather a discrete and unique set of circumstances: The largest humanitarian failure of the Obama era is also its largest strategic failure.
At some point, being “modest” becomes the same thing as being inured to atrocities. President Bashar al-Assad’s helicopters continue to drop “barrel bombs” filled with shrapnel and chlorine. In recent attacks on the town of Marea, Islamic State forces have used skin-blistering mustard gas and deployed, over a few days, perhaps 50 suicide bombers. We have seen starvation sieges, and kidnappings, and beheadings, and more than 10,000 dead children.
continue reading
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-horrific-results-of-obamas-strategy-in-syria/2015/09/03/c16c117a-526c-11e5-933e-7d06c647a395_story.html
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Post by Daniel on Dec 20, 2015 12:55:34 GMT -5
Hagel: Obama hurt his credibility by failing to act in Syria
By Ben Ariel
12/20/2015
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel criticized President Barack Obama on Friday over his failure to act in Syria after he warned President Bashar Al-Assad that the use of chemical weapons would be crossing a “red line”.
Speaking to the Foreign Policy magazine, Hagel said he believed Obama dealt a severe blow to the credibility of both Obama and the United States by not taking action after Assad used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.
“Whether it was the right decision or not, history will determine that,” Hagel, who resigned a year ago amid reports of disagreements with Obama, told the magazine, but added, “There’s no question in my mind that it hurt the credibility of the president’s word when this occurred.”
In the days and months afterward, Hagel said, his counterparts around the world told him their confidence in Washington had been shaken over Obama’s sudden about-face, and added he still hears complaints to this day from foreign leaders.
“A president’s word is a big thing, and when the president says things, that’s a big deal,” he told Foreign Policy.
Hagel cited the episode as an example of a White House that has struggled to formulate a coherent policy on Syria, holding interminable meetings that would often end without a decision, even as conditions on the ground worsened and the death toll grew steadily higher.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/205160
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Post by Daniel on Feb 12, 2016 10:22:35 GMT -5
A Disaster Worse Than Libya
Cliff Kincaid — February 11, 2016
Now that another presidential primary is over, can the media take a few minutes to insist that the candidates address some important issues like the crisis in Aleppo, Syria? Tens of thousands of Syrians are dying or fleeing the Russians and the Iranians, who have invaded the country. President Obama is doing nothing to save them.
The American people should be reminded that Obama lost Libya in a fiasco that cost the lives of four Americans. In that case, he intervened militarily and assisted in overthrowing the regime of Muammar Qaddafi, then pulled back when American facilities were attacked. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says the country is now a haven for terrorists. President Obama is now losing Syria. Rebels opposed to the Bashar al-Assad regime don’t have the weapons to fight Russian planes and tanks.
Veteran diplomat Dennis Ross is the latest observer to note that the policies of Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin seem to be the same. “Rather than being opposed to the Russian efforts, we look to be in league with them,” he writes in the Los Angeles Times.
What are those Russian efforts? Vladimir Putin is destroying the anti-Assad opposition forces and leaving the Islamic State largely untouched. In the end, Ross says, Putin intends “on changing the balance of power fundamentally on the ground and sending a message to Arab leaders. Namely: You may not like our support for Assad, but unlike the Americans we stand by our friends. If you want to deal with problems in Syria or in the region, you deal with us.” That means that Sunni countries alarmed by Russian and Iranian aggression in Syria will realize they cannot depend on the United States for support and will cut deals for survival with Putin.
It appears that Russian intentions go far beyond saving the Assad regime and undermining U.S. influence in the region. It is fascinating to note that the far-left in the United States is gearing up for a major campaign to cut off U.S. assistance to Saudi Arabia. This initiative is led by United for Peace and Justice and Progressive Democrats of America. Nothing would please Putin more than for Saudi Arabia to collapse and for the Russian/Iranian alliance to take over the Arabian Peninsula.
continue reading
www.aim.org/aim-column/a-disaster-worse-than-libya/
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Post by Daniel on Feb 17, 2016 10:39:28 GMT -5
Obama comes under fire for Syria softness
By Arutz Sheva Staff
2/17/2016
The United States is coming under increasingly bitter criticism for its perceived lack of leadership over Syria as the country's brutal civil conflict heads toward new levels of intensity.
Washington appears unable or unwilling to prevent its ally Turkey from bombing Kurdish fighters inside Syria, its critics say. And it has done little to rein in Russia's mounting military involvement on behalf of Bashar al-Assad.
President Barack Obama, at a summit in California, said "this is not a contest between me and Putin."
"The real question we should be asking is what is it that Russia thinks it gains if it gets a country that's been completely destroyed as an ally, that it now has to perpetually spend billions of dollars to prop up?" Obama said.
In the eyes of his detractors, Obama is guilty of refusing to engage in Syria by doing exactly what he said he would do when he was elected in 2008: pulling America out of Middle Eastern wars, after the Iraq debacle, and "pivot" US foreign policy towards Asia.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/208158
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Post by Daniel on Apr 24, 2016 8:11:05 GMT -5
Obama: It would be a mistake to send troops to Syria
By Arutz Sheva Staff
4/24/2016
US President Barack Obama warned Sunday that it would be a "mistake" to send Western troops into Syria to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In an interview with the BBC, he said the United States would continue strikes against the Islamic State terror group (ISIS) while continuing efforts to broker a transition deal between the Assad regime and his moderate Syrian opponents.
"Syria has been a heart-breaking situation of enormous complexity, and I don't think there are any simple solutions," Obama said during his visit to London which ended Sunday.
"It would be a mistake for the United States, or Great Britain, or a combination of Western states to send in ground troops and overthrow the Assad regime.
"But I do believe that we can apply international pressure to all the parties, including Russia and Iran, who, essentially, are propping up Assad, as well as those moderate oppositions that exist and may be fighting inside of Syria, to sit down at the table and try to broker a transition.
...
"But in order for us to solve the long-term problems in Syria, a military solution alone - and certainly us deploying ground troops - is not going to bring that about."
read full article
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211346
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Post by Daniel on Apr 25, 2016 9:25:05 GMT -5
Report: Obama to send 250 soldiers to Syria
By Arutz Sheva staff
4/25/2016
US President Barack Obama will on Monday announce plans to send up to 250 more military personnel to Syria, according to a senior administration official, intensifying US assistance to rebels as a ceasefire falters.
Obama "tomorrow will announce that he has authorized up to 250 additional forces deploying to Syria," the source said, adding that the president would confirm the deployment in a speech in the northern city of Hanover.
US troops in Syria are mandated to advise and assist Syrian rebel and anti-Islamic State forces.
Obama is currently in Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The pair will be joined Monday by leaders from Britain, France and Italy, a meeting called at Obama's request and which looks set to focus on the fight against the Islamic State group.
"The president has authorized a series of steps to increase support for our partners in the region, including Iraqi security forces as well as local Syrian forces who are taking the fight to ISIL," said the official.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211377
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Post by Daniel on Apr 29, 2016 10:02:09 GMT -5
‘Violation of sovereignty’: Moscow slams Obama decision to send 250 more US troops to Syria
29 Apr, 2016 RTNews
Moscow has voiced concerns over the landing of 150 US soldiers in Rumeilan, northeastern Syria, without the consent of the Syrian government, calling it a “violation of the country's sovereignty.”
"Speaking from the position of the Foreign Ministry, we can't help but be concerned about the fact that such actions are being carried out by the US without the consent of the legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic,” Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS.
“It is a violation of sovereignty," he said. "I emphasize that a similar political assessment has already been given by official Damascus, and we express our full solidarity with it," the Russian diplomat said.
He added that "contacts between Russia-US defense ministries are taking place on a daily basis."
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister said the issues are being discussed by “professionals who are well versed in the situation, its dynamics, and in the existing threats and challenges, which can be tackled by the corresponding contingents.”
On Monday, US President Barack Obama confirmed plans to increase American troop presence in Syria by deploying an additional 250 personnel, bringing the total to 300. He said the troops would help drive out the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group.
The move raised eyebrows as it contradicts Obama’s earlier promise not to put any “American boots on the ground in Syria.”
continue reading
www.rt.com/news/341342-us-syria-violation-sovereignty/
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Post by Daniel on May 2, 2016 10:01:24 GMT -5
Stating the obvious? Kerry: Syria 'in many ways out of control'
By Arutz Sheva Staff
5/2/2016
Syria's civil war is "in many ways out of control" US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Monday, vowing to work hard in the "coming hours" to salvage a tattered truce.
Kerry's statement of the obvious came in an address after talks with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, Kerry said he would call his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov later Monday to press for the ceasefire to be restored.
But, in some of his most downbeat comments yet on the effort to end the deadly five-year-old conflict, Kerry warned that he did not want to promise success.
Standing by de Mistura, he thanked him for supporting a political process in the midst of "a conflict that is in may ways out of control and deeply disturbing to everybody in the world, I hope."
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211639
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Post by Daniel on Jul 7, 2016 8:28:40 GMT -5
Putin and Obama agree to intensify coordination in Syria
Arutz Sheva Staff, 07/07/16
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed during a telephone call Wednesday to "intensify" military coordination between their two countries in Syria, the Kremlin said, according to AFP.
"The two parties have confirmed their desire to intensify coordination between the Russian and American militaries in Syria," the Kremlin said in a statement quoted by the news agency.
Putin also called on Obama to help aid the separation of moderate opposition groups from "terrorist groups like the Al-Nusra front", it said.
They both stressed the importance of restarting UN-sponsored Syria peace talks after two rounds of negotiations held in Geneva since the start of the year ended without progress.
Russia and the U.S. have already been cooperating in Syria with Moscow calling for "decisive joint action against Al-Nusra" in June.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/214608
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Post by Daniel on Jul 16, 2016 9:07:36 GMT -5
Is Obama ‘offer’ for Russian cooperation in Syria too good to be true?
15 Jul, 2016 RTNews
Nine months ago when Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s anti-terror intervention in Syria, Barack Obama scorned the move, predicting it would lead to a disastrous quagmire. Why then is the US president so keen now to team up with Russia?
From dire predictions of Russian military failure in Syria to this week’s appeal by the Obama administration for cooperation “to defeat terrorists” in the Arab country, there is apparently a dramatic shift in US policy.
Gone is sanctimonious censure against Russia’s military intervention and forebodings about a Soviet-Afghan style quagmire in Syria. The public attitude of the US administration is now tantamount to the plea: Can we join your winning team in Syria, please?
That’s quite a turnaround, given the heaps of vilification Washington has thrown at the Russian military operations, accusing Moscow of everything from “propping up the tyrannical Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad”, to bombing hospitals and civilians, to wiping out “moderate rebels”.
read full article
www.rt.com/op-edge/351310-obama-offer-russian-cooperation-syria/
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Post by Daniel on Aug 24, 2016 8:46:01 GMT -5
What Outcome Do We Seek in Syria?
By Shoshana Bryen August 24, 2016
Russian warplanes took off this week from Iran to hit targets in Syria. Russia has used Iranian bases for refueling and resupply in the past, but this is its first bombing mission from the Islamic Republic — it is also the first foreign military operation to take place from Iranian soil since the 1979 revolution. Iran’s National Security chief said Iran and Russia “enjoy strategic cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria, and share their facilities and capacities to this end.”
Whether temporary or serving longer term Russian interests, the increasing breadth and capability of the Russian military in the region — allied with the State Department’s number one designated state sponsor of terror — presents problems for the United States. The Obama administration, however, appears oddly unconcerned.
1. A State Department spokesperson said, “We have nothing to announce at this time. We speak regularly with Russian officials about ways to strengthen the Cessation of Hostilities, improve humanitarian access and bring about the conditions necessary to find a political solution to this conflict.”
2. Another spokesperson called it, “unfortunate, but not surprising or unexpected.”
3. From the Pentagon, “As we understand it, they hit three areas in Syria. One area had ISIS fighters in it, and we have hit there ourselves before. The other two areas do not have ISIS concentrations.”
The area that did not have ISIS fighters had anti-Assad rebels. Does the State Department think Russian bombing will help “find a political solution to the conflict”? What does the U.S. think a “political solution” should look like?
There is no easy side for America to take — if we take any. On one side is a war criminal, whose allies are Russia, Iran, and Hizb’allah (a U.S.-designated terrorist organization). On the other is the “opposition,” a collection of fighters including Jabhat al-Nusra — until last week calling itself an arm of al Qaeda — the Free Syrian Army, ISIS-affiliated rebels, and groups with acronyms previously unknown. Some will fight ISIS. Some are ISIS. Some will fight only Assad. Just about all are Sunni Islamists supported financially by America’s erstwhile allies in the Gulf plus Turkey. Among the Kurdish groups, some are Assad’s allies; some are America’s allies. All are the enemy of Turkey, a NATO member.
Our allies have their own agendas, as do our adversaries.
continue reading
www.breakingisraelnews.com/74447/outcome-seek-syria-opinion/
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Post by Daniel on Aug 27, 2016 9:52:41 GMT -5
‘US pretends there are moderates in Syria, Russia understands they are all terrorists’
27 Aug, 2016 RTNews
Can we expect a change to a more cooperative strategy on the ground in Syria after the Geneva talks between Russia and the US? Or was it a big enough achievement that both countries were able to sit down and understand each other better? RT asked experts.
On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Geneva for a 12-hour marathon session to discuss their countries’ respective strategies in Syria. The diplomats claimed they had made progress during the talks, saying they had reduced areas of misunderstanding. No official breakthrough statement was made, however.
RT asked experts if the talks between third parties in Geneva could result in a solution for Syria, and what the prospects were for the peace process if the sides still can’t agree on who the terrorists are there.
...
Sorting these groups out is difficult, according to the state senator, as they are all fighting under the joint command of the Army of Conquest.
“The headquarters of the Army of Conquest is in Idlib. It controls the terrorist armies throughout Syria, except for ISIS [Islamic State, IS, formerly ISIL], which operates independently,” he told RT.
“The US pretends there are moderate terrorists and Russia understands, I think, quite clearly, that there are not moderate terrorists: they all are the same group; they use different names here and there, but they are part of the Army of Conquest, which is a terrorist army,” Senator Black said.
read full article
www.rt.com/op-edge/357392-us-russia-syria-geneva/
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Post by Daniel on Aug 27, 2016 9:55:36 GMT -5
“The US pretends there are moderate terrorists and Russia understands, I think, quite clearly, that there are not moderate terrorists: they all are the same group; they use different names here and there, but they are part of the Army of Conquest, which is a terrorist army,” Senator Black said.
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Post by Daniel on Sept 11, 2016 8:35:04 GMT -5
Obama hands Syria over to Putin
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 10, 2016
The Syrian cease-fire agreement that US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Friday night, September 9, in Geneva hands Syrian affairs over to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the country’s military.
The accord marked a sharp reversal for Washington. In his meeting with Putin in China last week, US President Barack Obama did not agree to those steps for the simple reason that such an agreement would be in line with the policy and stance of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, not those of the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trump suggested several months ago that the US should let Putin finish the war in Syria, asserting that the Russian leader would be able to do it better.
Under the current situation it is no wonder that Kerry and Lavrov agreed not to release the details of the agreement. Publication of the details would reveal that the rebels in the Aleppo area, and perhaps in all of Syria, have been abandoned.
The Syrian rebels now find themselves trapped by both the Russian-Turkish agreement and the Russian-US agreement, with a noose seemingly closing around them.
continue reading
debka.com/article/25656/Obama-hands-Syria-over-to-Putin-
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Post by Daniel on Sept 21, 2016 19:00:31 GMT -5
Rockets on Golan, Pentagon flouts Obama, no truce
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis September 17, 2016
The Pentagon and US army are not following the orders of their Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama in the execution of the military cooperation accord in Syria concluded by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Sept. 12.
Five days after the truce they agreed would go into effect Monday, fighting was still raging Saturday, Sept. 17.
debkafile was the only Western publication to foresee this eventuality in an article published on July 18.
It was already evident then that any military cooperation agreement between the two powers would be contingent on America exposing its intelligence-gathering methods to Russia - not just in Syria but worldwide.
As our military sources predicted, this new intelligence sharing arrangement would necessarily extend to the Syrian Air Force as a third partner.
more
debka.com/article/25670/Rockets-on-Golan-Pentagon-flouts-Obama-no-truce
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Post by sevenofnine on Sept 22, 2016 20:27:18 GMT -5
These Syrian kurds are wrong Arab they are not Arabs there a lot of Kurd Chrisitans in Glendale and Burbank I think what I think
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Post by Daniel on Nov 18, 2016 8:15:40 GMT -5
Obama hits Trump tie with Putin, Erdogan on Syria
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report November 14, 2016
Half a dozen long convoys of trucks carrying US arms, hurriedly put together by US military headquarters in Baghdad, have crossed the border in the last three days on their way to the Syrian Kurdish PYD-YPG militia, debkafile military and intelligence sources report exclusively Monday, Nov. 14. The deliveries were expressly ordered by President Barack Obama in a radical turnaround from his five-year refusal to supply Kurdish fighters with American weaponry, least of all anti-air and anti-tank missiles.
More arms convoys are being organized for the same destination.
What caused President Obama’s sudden and belated change of heart about arming the Syrian Kurdish fighters? Our sources report six motives:
1. To get in the way of the deal for Syria that president elect Donald Trump is developing with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan. Obama has chosen Syria as the first arena to disrupt the incoming president’s foreign and security policies.
more
debka.com/article/25776/Obama-hits-Trump-tie-with-Putin-Erdogan-on-Syria
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Post by Daniel on Dec 8, 2016 19:21:02 GMT -5
Mosul offensive folds, waiting now for Trump
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 5, 2016
The failue of the US-backed Iraqi army offensive to liberate Mosul - nine weeks after it began - could no longer be denied when a delegation of ISIS chiefs arrived there Sunday, Dec. 4, traveling unhindered from Raqqa, Syria.
debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report that they arrived to discuss how to synchronize the operations of the two jihadist strongholds, after the Islamist leaders occupying Mosul changed course about leaving the city and decided to stay put.
This decision followed their assessment that the Iraqi army and its American backers were incapable of bringing their offensive to a successful conclusion. It was also evident in Washington that the US commanders in the field would not be able to meet Barack Obama’s presidential directive to capture Mosul by the end of December, so that he could exit the White House next month with a successful Mosul campaign behind hm.
Altogether 54,000 Iraqi troops and 5,000 US servicemen – supported by 90 warplanes and 150 heavy artillery pieces - were invested in the Mosul campaign when it was launched in October. They proved unable to beat 9,000 jihadists.
more
debka.com/article/25818/Mosul-offensive-folds-waiting-now-for-Trump
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Post by Daniel on Dec 18, 2016 9:38:19 GMT -5
The Blood of Aleppo is on Obama’s Hands
by Cliff Kincaid on December 14, 2016
It’s amazing how CNN’s talking heads can devote so much time to the “scandal” of Donald J. Trump’s sons participating in interviews of cabinet picks, but can’t connect the dots between the bloody tragedy in Aleppo and President Barack Obama’s pro-terrorist policy in the Middle East.
During the day on Wednesday, we saw CNN repeatedly air gruesome film footage of the massacre of civilians in Aleppo by the Russians and their Iranian and Syrian puppets. Not once did any CNN talking head bother to point out that Obama’s policy of intervention, through support of terrorist groups in Syria who are losing the war, may have had a role in the unfolding massacre.
In a scandal that makes the alleged Russian hacking of Democratic emails appear minor by comparison, a Democratic member of the U.S. House has taken to the House floor to say that Obama’s CIA has been aiding the Islamic terrorist groups ISIS and al-Qaeda for the purpose of overthrowing the Syrian regime.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) introduced legislation to curb the Obama administration’s pro-terrorist policy, calling it the Stop Arming Terrorists bill (H.R. 6405).
A member of the House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gabbard served two tours of duty in the Middle East, and continues her service as a major in the Army National Guard.
more
www.aim.org/aim-column/the-blood-of-aleppo-is-on-obamas-hands/
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Post by Daniel on Apr 14, 2017 10:42:02 GMT -5
Obama’s “Complicated” Lies About Syria
by Cliff Kincaid on April 9, 2017
The mainstream media have not challenged the claim that chemical weapons were used by Syrian and/or Russian forces. Hence, they have been forced to explain how they were used when Obama officials previously claimed they had been removed from Syria. It’s another new low for a press corps that was eager to regurgitate whatever the Obama administration had claimed as a success in foreign policy.
The New York Times article entitled, “Weren’t Syria’s Chemical Weapons Destroyed? It’s Complicated,” is a fascinating exercise in trying to rationalize why Obama officials lied when they claimed Syria’s chemical arsenal had been eliminated.
It seems that lies are “complicated” to explain.
According to the Scott Shane article, President Barack Obama had declared that “American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria’s chemical weapons are being eliminated.” Later, Secretary of State John Kerry had declared, “We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out.”
So they lied. Right? Wrong. It’s a complicated matter.
According to the Times, Kerry and others had tried to refer to the elimination of Syria’s “declared” stocks. This was “a nuance often lost in news reports,” the Times said.
So when Kerry talked about eliminating “100 percent” of the weapons, that isn’t really what he meant.
Shane goes on to report, with a straight face, “Despite the failure to completely eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, Obama administration officials and outside experts considered the program fundamentally a success.”
A failure is a success.
more
www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-complicated-lies-about-syria/
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