Playing with global security, President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry continue to sit on the proverbial fence in Syria. Telling Putin Dec. 15, 2015 that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can stay in power, Kerry plays a dangerous game cozying up to the Saudis and Turks, whose five-year-old proxy war has cost 250,000 lives, displacing million more to neighboring countries and threatening the European Union. White House officials can’t figure out what to do, on the one hand, putting the U.S. dangerously close to a confrontation with Moscow, while, on the other hand, paying lip service to Riyadh’s determination to topple al-Assad. Despite the Feb. 27 ceasefire, Russia continues to bomb Saudi-backed rebel positions, freeing up Syrian forces to retake Aleppo. Kerry continues to urge Moscow to end air strikes, antagonizing Saudi-backed opposition forces.
On the campaign trail, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton shows no degree of separation with Obama’s policy of toppling Mideast dictators. Russian President Vladimir Putin told the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 28, 2015 that toppling al-Assad would repeat the same mistakes in Iraq and Libya, spreading more terror and chaos in the Middle East. Hillary’s position remains in lockstep with Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) also backing tossing al-Assad out of Damascus. Speaking at a Munich Security Conference Feb. 13, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called Iran the Mideast’s “chief sponsor of state sponsored terrorism,” adopting the same position as Hillary and Saudi Arabia. Hillary doesn’t want the public to know about how many millions the Clinton Presidential library and Clinton foundation have received from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.
Obama and Kerry walk a dangerous tightrope backing the Saudis and Turks, while, at the same time, pitting the U.S. against Russia and Iran. Whether Democrat of Republicans the same Cold War logic prevails on both sides of the aisle: Opposing Russia and Iran. White House officials—including the retired secretary of state and Democratic front-runner—know that the Saudis are the Mideast’s “chief sponsor of terrorism,” funding, planning and executing the Wahhabi proxy war against al-Assad’s Shiite government. “The air strikes definitely seek to give regime forces a tactical advantage,” said Genevieve Casagrande, an analyst with the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. Saudi officials backing the Syrian proxy war aren’t happy about the Russians hammering opposition forces. U.N. Special Syrian envoy Staffan de Mistura postponed peace talks in Geneva until March 9.
Casagrande admitted that Russian air strikes against Saudi-backed rebels around Aleppo haven’t really let up since the Feb. 27 ceasefire. “A lot of it is just not being talked about,” said Cassagrande, admitting the Kerry gave Putin a nod-and-a-wink to continue to prepare the battlefield for al-Assad’s forces to retake Aleppo. “We want to work to eliminate them, and we have agreed on a process by which we will do that,” said Kerry, regarding ongoing Russian air strikes. Allowing in U.S.-backed Mercy Corps to deliver humanitarian aid to some 180,000 besieged residents shows some cooperation with Moscow. Ankara warned that it could start shelling Kurdish positions near the Syrian border. Turkey wants no part of U.S. Special Forces using the Peshmerga Kurds as a de facto ground force to battle the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. Turkey considers Kurds its mortal enemy.
Kerry and Obama have to stop playing the Russians and Iranians off the Saudis and Turks. Costing untold billions and social havoc in the EU, it’s time to join with the Russians—and yes Iranians—to stop the Saudi-backed proxy war that has no end in sight. Only by joining the Russians and Iranians to drive out Saudi-backed opposition forces can the U.S. and EU see an end to the Syrian conflict. Planned, funded and executed during the Saudi-backed “Arab Spring” in 2011, the proxy war must end to allow millions of Syrians to return home. While there’s noting wrong with the Mercy Corps getting aid to worn-ravaged civilians, it’s time for de Mistura to stop playing games and tell the Saudis and Turks to stop the proxy war. No matter how disliked, Syria’s al-Assad has every right to defend his sovereign territory against foreign invaders and domestic terrorists.
President Obama and Kerry must get off the fence and stop playing the Saudis and Turks against the Russians and Iranians. Ending the biggest humanitarian crisis since WWII requires the Saudis to stop funding rebel groups seeking to topple al-Assad. Working with the Russians and Iranians, the U.S. can end the five-year-old proxy war causing untold misery and suffering to Syrian civilians. State Department officials acknowledge violations of the ceasefire but make no real effort to stop Russian air strikes. “We want to work to eliminate them, and we have agreed on a process by which we will do that,” said Kerry, showing the White House gives Putin the green light to eliminate Saudi-backed opposition forces. Instead of pretending to back Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the White House would be far better off joining Russia and Iran to finally end the Syrian conflict.
