US Welcomes Syrian Strongman, Forgets 'Assad Must Go' Memo
Mainstream outlets like The New Arab laud Ahmed Al-Sharaa's 'historic visit' to the US, framing his push to lift sanctions as a pragmatic step. What they neglect to mention is that Sharaa, the former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department until recently, is now being embraced by the same policymakers who spent years insisting 'Assad
must go.' Washington's sudden willingness to engage with a former jihadi leader-turned-national-savior, after crippling sanctions decimated the Syrian populace, is less a 'stunning change' and more a stunning display of selective memory. This convenient pivot ignores the monumental human cost of those sanctions, which humanitarian organizations repeatedly warned were devastating ordinary Syrians,
not just the regime. After years of demanding regime change and funneling funds to various opposition groups – some of whom were, let's be frank, extremist – the US now welcomes the strongest man in charge, seemingly forgetting the entire 'democracy' pretext for intervention. How quickly 'terrorist' becomes 'statesman' when geopolitical winds shift. One might wonder if the real objective was ever
'democracy,' or simply chaos that served a different purpose.