Over the past couple of weeks, Obama Administration officials have made a dramatic transition in their view of the Syrian Civil War, publicly expressing serious concern about al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front, which rules the Idlib Province, and which by US estimates is the “largest” al-Qaeda affiliate in the world.
French President Francois Hollande also chimed in on this question yesterday, calling for an expansion of the ISIS war to include the Nusra Front. Increasingly, it seems that expanding the war is the way that much of the US-led coalition is talking.
Yet just over a month ago, US officials were openly confirming pressuring Russia not to attack al-Qaeda targets under any circumstances, noting that a number of US-armed rebel factions are embedding with al-Qaeda and fighting alongside them.
The newfound US interest in fighting al-Qaeda has some suggesting that the US might actually partner up with Russia for the attacks, as Russia’s interest in going after al-Qaeda had been a major sore spot with the US for quite some time.
This won’t play well for Obama with the hawks in the US. But it seems to be an indication that Obama is going to assert himself and his ideas to much greater degree in the last few months of his time as pres.
Why isn’t that being appreciated here at antiwar.com? And if it’s being appreciated at all to any degree then it’s only being hinted at by the writings of Jason Ditz.
My personal opinion of that fact is that Jason Ditz has risen above the libertarian bullshit politics and is telling it like it is. No other writer I’ve been reading here has had the convictions and the courage to do that.
With apologies to any writers who have given Obama credit of course. I’m thinking that Ron Paul has but I may have missed it. Or at least, I hope he has?