Biden Accuses Saudis, Turkey of Starting Syria Proxy War

Allies the 'Biggest Problem' for US in Syria

In comments yesterday at the Kennedy School, Vice President Joe Biden said the United States’ biggest problem in the Syria war has been their allies, singling out Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Biden said those nations had “poured hundreds of millions of dollars” into trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad and in the process had created a “proxy Sunni-Shia war” in the region.

“The Turks, we’re great friends and I have a great relationship with Erdogan that I spent a lot of time with. The Saudis, the Emiratis, etc., what were they doing?” Biden added.

Incredibly, the vice president also claimed the US had been trying but “could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying” the various Islamist rebel factions inside Syria.

Absent in Biden’s comments is the massive amount of money the US poured into Syria backing the exact same groups, for the exact same reason. Biden sought to portray the calamitous failure of Syria over the past years as someone else’s fault, and a lesson the anti-ISIS alliance has learned.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.