Obama Must Dump the Neocons and Cooperate with Russia on Syria - US Analyst

© AP Photo / Gerald HerbertUS President Barack Obama
US President Barack Obama - Sputnik International
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An editorial from investigative news magazine Consortium News urges President Obama to work with President Putin to bring stability to Syria, and contribute to the process by exercising US influence over Middle East allies to prevent the flow of recruits, weapons and financial support to the jihadists who terrorize the region.

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President Obama faces a fateful choice on the Syria conflict, which will have great consequences for the future of the US as well as for Syria, writes US journalist Robert Parry.

"Obama now has the option to cooperate with Putin to stabilize the Syrian regime and pressure erstwhile US 'allies' to cut off Al Qaeda and the Islamic State from money, guns and recruits," says Parry, pointing to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Persian Gulf sheikdoms as sources of covert support for the Sunni extremists.  

"Though that might seem like clearly the best of the bad remaining options, it faces extraordinary obstacles from Official Washington," the group of neocons and liberal war hawks who make up the foreign policy elite that has presided over America's worst foreign policy decisions, and who continue to push for "regime change" in Syria.

A rebel fighter fires heavy artillery during clashes with government forces and pro-regime shabiha militiamen in the outskirts of Syria's northwestern Idlib province on September 18, 2015 - Sputnik International
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Parry suggests Obama cooperates with Russia to stabilize Syria as a "late-in-his-presidency course correction", after ill-advised military campaigns such as the 2009 "surge" in Afghanistan and the "regime change" war in Libya in 2011, in which he was guided by the pro-war national security experts retained from the Bush administration.

If Assad becomes the latest leader to be toppled by the regime change doctrine pressed by the Official Washington elite, "the result would be Sunni jihadist forces filling the vacuum with the black flag of terrorism fluttering over the ancient city of Damascus."

© Sputnik / Dmitriy Vinogradov / Go to the mediabankA Syrian flag on the background of ruined houses in the Syrian town of Maaloula, 55 km from Damascus, which was twice captured and looted by Jabhat al-Nusra militants.
A Syrian flag on the background of ruined houses in the Syrian town of Maaloula, 55 km from Damascus, which was twice captured and looted by Jabhat al-Nusra militants. - Sputnik International
A Syrian flag on the background of ruined houses in the Syrian town of Maaloula, 55 km from Damascus, which was twice captured and looted by Jabhat al-Nusra militants.
"Then, the option for Obama or his successor would be to mount a major invasion and occupation of Syria, a costly and bloody enterprise that would mean the final transformation of the American Republic into an imperial state of permanent war."

Instead, Perry recommends that Obama seize his last chance to help stabilize the Syrian situation and "face down these bellicose voices and start leveling with the American people about the nuanced realities of the world."

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has clarified the situation for President Obama. With Russia stepping up its military support for Assad’s regime with the goal of defeating the Islamic State’s head-choppers and Al Qaeda’s terrorism plotters, Obama’s options have narrowed."

© AFP 2023 / STR Syrian pro-government forces patrol an area in the Sahl al-Ghab, in Hama province, on June 7, 2015
Syrian pro-government forces patrol an area in the Sahl al-Ghab, in Hama province, on June 7, 2015 - Sputnik International
Syrian pro-government forces patrol an area in the Sahl al-Ghab, in Hama province, on June 7, 2015
Rather than listen again to the "Official Washington" war hawks urging more of the same bloodshed, Perry urges Obama to join forces with Russia and take positive steps to stabilize the Syrian crisis.  

The use of US influence to force so-called "moderate" Sunnis in Syria to enter negotiations with representatives of President Bashar al-Assad, and threatening severe financial punishments against countries that support terrorist groups are two important measures the US president could take to correct the course of US foreign policy, and join Russia's effort to stabilize the country.

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