Claire and Adnan, Thanks for the interview and subsequent posting. In reflecting on the history as it was related at the time, it is my recollection that our efforts at supporting a Syrian "democratic opposition," were a dismal failure. Didn't an agency sponsor of such efforts, during the Obama years, testify at a Congressional hearing, that we had only one competently trained counter Assad functionary ready to enter the fray? I'm sure I can dig up this account somewhere, but am composing this on the fly right now. As far as the Obama-Kerry-Biden dream of a future Iran, fully integrated in the community of nations, utilizing their enriched uranium in nuclear power plants, this was a fantasy of Potemkinesque proportions. Had radical regime change occurred in what my late Dad used to call Persia, this might have been a possibility in a Leibnizian "best of all possible worlds," this might have happened but you and Adnan see these efforts for what they were and are now, a burdensome paradigm, bordering on a delusion. Currently, the reports on Ukraine are all over the lot, that is Ukraine is eventually going to lose a war of attrition or Russia's citizenry won't stand much longer for staggering numbers of deaths and casualties. I entertained a number of Ukrainians from the battlefield at our AIRBNB, last summer and the elder of the group made a point of stating, in heavily accented English, that Biden had no "balls," his point being that the sophisticated, technological hardware was being held back by the current administration. As an aside, our son a Company Commander with an Army Unit, just returned from a six month deployment in Erbil, Kurdistan. We are extremely fortunate he and his fellow soldiers survived numerous drone attacks. Can you imagine a Pentagon Spokesperson, at the behest of our feckless Commander-in-Chief stating that "if anything bad happens to our men and women in the field, we'll respond, knowing full well that the initial phrase in that statement, meant the loss or injury of American lives, particularly our son and his charges? God help us. Sorry for rambling. Thanks again for the updates. Godspeed.
I don't disagree with anything in this piece. But it leaves out a major point, IMO. After major US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan why would Americans think a military effort in Syria would lead to a better result. Maybe a foreign policy expert could argue that Syria is different. Most of us just see another country full of America-hating jihadis. Am I wrong?
Claire and Adnan, Thanks for the interview and subsequent posting. In reflecting on the history as it was related at the time, it is my recollection that our efforts at supporting a Syrian "democratic opposition," were a dismal failure. Didn't an agency sponsor of such efforts, during the Obama years, testify at a Congressional hearing, that we had only one competently trained counter Assad functionary ready to enter the fray? I'm sure I can dig up this account somewhere, but am composing this on the fly right now. As far as the Obama-Kerry-Biden dream of a future Iran, fully integrated in the community of nations, utilizing their enriched uranium in nuclear power plants, this was a fantasy of Potemkinesque proportions. Had radical regime change occurred in what my late Dad used to call Persia, this might have been a possibility in a Leibnizian "best of all possible worlds," this might have happened but you and Adnan see these efforts for what they were and are now, a burdensome paradigm, bordering on a delusion. Currently, the reports on Ukraine are all over the lot, that is Ukraine is eventually going to lose a war of attrition or Russia's citizenry won't stand much longer for staggering numbers of deaths and casualties. I entertained a number of Ukrainians from the battlefield at our AIRBNB, last summer and the elder of the group made a point of stating, in heavily accented English, that Biden had no "balls," his point being that the sophisticated, technological hardware was being held back by the current administration. As an aside, our son a Company Commander with an Army Unit, just returned from a six month deployment in Erbil, Kurdistan. We are extremely fortunate he and his fellow soldiers survived numerous drone attacks. Can you imagine a Pentagon Spokesperson, at the behest of our feckless Commander-in-Chief stating that "if anything bad happens to our men and women in the field, we'll respond, knowing full well that the initial phrase in that statement, meant the loss or injury of American lives, particularly our son and his charges? God help us. Sorry for rambling. Thanks again for the updates. Godspeed.
I don't disagree with anything in this piece. But it leaves out a major point, IMO. After major US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan why would Americans think a military effort in Syria would lead to a better result. Maybe a foreign policy expert could argue that Syria is different. Most of us just see another country full of America-hating jihadis. Am I wrong?