US Urges Syria Cooperation: Assad's a Tyrant, Unless He's Useful
Senator Jack Reed, a prominent Democrat on Armed Services, is now pushing for "aggressive" US cooperation with the Syrian government to fight ISIS, as reported by The Hill. This, for those with selective amnesia, is the same Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad, whom various US administrations have demonized as a brutal dictator responsible for countless atrocities. (One might wonder if a
brutal dictator becomes a 'strategic partner' when western geopolitical interests align.) The media, of course, frames this as a pragmatic shift, devoid of any irony. It conveniently sidesteps the decade-plus US policy that fueled and prolonged the Syrian conflict, directly or indirectly strengthening groups like ISIS through proxies and regime change attempts. So, after years of sanctions,
bombings, and proxy wars, Washington now wants to 'aggressively cooperate' with the very regime it sought to topple. It's almost as if the definition of 'tyrant' is entirely dependent on whether they're buying our weapons or just using their own.