CIA Director: If Assad Falls ISIS Will Takeover Syria

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/29086-cia-director-if-assad-falls-isis-will-takeover-syria

CIA director John Brennan said on Friday that the US did not want a chaotic collapse of the Assad government as it could open the way for militant groups to take power.

The spy agency chief said Washington had reason to worry about who might replace President Bashar al-Assad if his government fell, given the rise of the Islamic State (IS) group and other militants in Syria.

"I think that's a legitimate concern," Brennan said when asked if the US government feared who might succeed Assad.

Speaking at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations, he said that "extremist elements" including IS and al-Qaeda veterans are "ascendant right now" in some parts of Syria.

"The last thing we want to do is allow them to march into Damascus."

[bemildred]

1. The light dawns, eh? nt

[eridani]

4. Yes--an ongoing object lesson in why outsiders getting rid of dictators is a bad idea

--even if they really, really suck.

[JonLP24]

15. The dictator is part of the problem why ISIS is even there in the first place

They need recruits, its easier when the dictator commits massive atrocities. Getting rid or not getting rid, Syrians will do that with or without us.

[eridani]

29. ISIS was created by George Bush

No invasion of Iraq = no ISIS.

[JonLP24]

32. Al-Maliki was more directly responsible for ISIS

but since the US put him in charge that can be blamed on Bush as well.

[Downwinder]

5. I think not.

Still groping in the dark.

[eridani]

6. Counterexample please?

Iraq was better off under Saddam, and Libya better off under Ghadaffi.

[Downwinder]

12. Agreed.

From the OP:

“We need to continue to support those elements within Syria that are dedicated to moving Assad and his ilk out, but there has to be some kind of political pathway to the future.”

"The US military is funding the training and arming of "moderate" Syrian rebel forces but the effort is only now getting off the ground."

----

there has to be some kind of political pathway to the future -- sounds pretty speculative to me.

[betterdemsonly]

25. That is the part of post that seems like BS

They have been funding socalled moderate opposition for 3 years now. Most of the arms are being used by Isis.

[bemildred]

27. It is utter BS.

They are always just getting things off the ground. Not only do we not know waht we are doing there, we don't know that we don't know. We think that we do know what we are doing, we just haven't done it enough yet.

[bemildred]

28. Well, it's just dawn, still dark out. nt

[betterdemsonly]

24. Must be a professional Assad apologist?

rolleyes? Sarcasm!

Seriously 6 months ago he would have had his du posting privileges revoked for making such an observation.

[bemildred]

26. No, I've been saying it right along here for some years.

There was a while there two or three years ago I thought we might get rid of him, but since we insisted on going after Iran and Russia too, you can kiss that goodbye. I don't like Assad, in fact I don't like him at all, but I don't confuse my preferences for the what Syrians can or do think.

[jakeXT]

2. Why not ? It worked in Libya ? /nt

[joshcryer]

3. The irony is Assad fostered ISIS.

[Scootaloo]

7. Less than we did, sadly

Assad's strategy seems to be "let's you and them have a fight." Simply letting IS and the other "rebels" chew each other up while syria conserves resources to mop up.

We're actually providing arming and training to the cretins. Indirectly perhaps, but when we hand a couple crates of guns and ammo to the Jihadist local 405, we can't really expect they're not going to run to th big guys.

[joshcryer]

13. Hardly.

Assad was informed of ISIS-style Iraq style incursions as far back as... Pelosi's "traitorous" visit to Assad during Bush's reign.

Assad was aware of it but had no intention of stopping it because it posed an equal threat to any moderate opposition. The enemy of my enemy, and all.

We see something like that in Libya, where even the "islamists" are currently battling ISIS forces (yeah, ISIS has really decided to become so evil even islamists are against them in Libya).

Assad, if he heeded the warnings, would've nipped ISIS / southern western "rebels" in the bud. But he focused on Aleppo instead. Now the Syrian/Iraqi border is all but ISIS controlled. And to blame the west for that is naive.

Of course, the real culprit is the war criminal Bush, who started this shit to begin with...

[Scootaloo]

16. Read my post past the title, please

We said the same thing. However, there's a difference between fostering something, and ignoring it.

[joshcryer]

19. I did. Most "trainees" are from Turkey.

US armed rebels are almost certainly not from the Iraq side. The Iraq side shit was what prompted us to do anything.

You act as if our "meddling" was worse than Assad's tyranny which focused on Aleppo. Assad intentionally ignored the south east, we can agree on that, I guess. But because of that he allowed a monster to grow.

"Less than we did, sadly." No, much worse than we did, because he was warned and allowed it to happen. Because, why not, we saw it coming, and if it happened, people like you would blame us (the current administration) rather than his inadequate response (to an environment the previous administration created).

It's basically an attempt to refute a current administration trying to do good by actions of a previous administration that committed war crimes.

[JonLP24]

17. Assad probably appreciated the warnings

because it discredits the people fighting to overthrow him

http://www.newsweek.com/how-syrias-assad-helped-forge-isis-255631

[joshcryer]

20. Yeah, throw chaos into the mix.

Blame the opposition. Typical tyrannical response to a popular protest. People forget that Syrians protested Assad for like a year straight with very little bloodshed. But then Assad released the floodgates and started killing people wholesale.

Assad wanted this to happen. There is no question about it. It allows him uncompromising and unrelenting destructive power. And the US has realized that the floodgates are probably worse than Assad, so it may indeed wind up becoming an ally of Assad in the future.

But this is very reminiscent of literally every other country in the Middle East that the US supports: installing dictators to suppress "evil muslims."

[Scootaloo]

8. Really, it took the CIA four years to figure it out?

The entire agency needs to be put to work as fry cooks. It's all they're qualified for.

[Demeter]

9. Too late for regrets, no way to amend or finesse it

Of course, war crimes trials might do a lot to satisfy the families of the dead, and put an end to Empire at last.

[malaise]

10. Looks likke someone learned from Gadaffi's prediction on Libya

Loot, plunder, slaughter -rinse, recycle.

[joshcryer]

14. Libya is a safer vacation stop than Venezuela.

Even with roaming bands of ISIS-inspired idiots driving around.

[elias49]

22. Haha! Enjoy your vacation in Tripoli!

[eridani]

30. So that explains why the US pulled its embasy out of Libya but not Venezuela

Thanks for the update.

[PaddyIrishman]

11. No shit Sherlock

I believe that is the technical term.

[Jefferson23]

18. They are finally caught up, thank goodness. n/t

[morningfog]

21. This after years of our government publicly stating

that the fall of Assad is an objective of our involvement.

[GreatGazoo]

23. Perhaps that was the plan all along

Assad out, ISIS in. The Saudis would love it.

[betterdemsonly]

31. This isn't as important as it looks

He is still funding the socalled "moderate opposition." There isn't much moderate opposition. That is why Isis is killing with American weapons.