The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) held an event on Monday entitled “Getting serious on Syria: Can we close the Assad era without opening a can of worms?” The discussion was focused on the costs and benefits of a military intervention in Syria and the sectarian repercussions of the fall of the Assad regime. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) opened the event with a keynote address. The panelists were Ammar Abdulhamid, from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Brian Fishman, from the New America Foundation, David Schenker, from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Lee Smith, from The Weekly Standard. Michael Rubin, from AEI, moderated
Senator John McCain began his keynote by describing the conflict in Syria as “horrifying, heartbreaking, and exasperating” and repeatedly stressed that it “is not a fair fight” due to the regime’s use of tanks, artillery, and helicopter gunships. “The troops appear to be under orders to kill anyone,” Sen. McCain said and added, “the stories from Syria haunt me.” McCain also claimed that a diplomatic resolution to the conflict would not be possible until the military balance of power had shifted on the ground. Because of the obvious failure of Kofi Annan’s peace plan and the growing effectiveness of the Free Syrian Army, “the United States needs to get more involved.” Particularly due to the fact that “the longer this conflict drags on, the more radical it becomes.” Additionally, the Senator outlined his plan for a multilateral military intervention. There would be no “boots on the ground,” but “safe havens” would be established to protect civilians, distribute aid, and enable the opposition to unify effectively. Finally, Sen. McCain said, “Syria today is indistinguishable from Bosnia except for one difference; in Bosnia, President Clinton mustered the courage to intervene.”
In a question and answer session after the keynote, Sen. McCain was asked if Iran would be weakened by the fall of the Assad regime. “There is no doubt that with the loss of Syria, Iran will lose its link to Lebanon,” McCain said. Also, Maliki may reconsider his friendly position toward Iran and the elimination of Assad could persuade Iran to stop seeking nuclear weapons, the Senator claimed.
Boards and other affiliations
- Member, American Friends of Bilderberg
- Director, International Republican Institute
- Advisory Board, America Bosnia Foundation
Ammar Abdulhamid opened the panel discussion urging the Obama administration to intervene in Syria now, rather than wait until after the election. Abdulhamid described how 600,000 Syrians have been displaced throughout the last 15 months and claimed that Sunni populations are being “ethnically cleansed and held under siege.” Abdulhamid concluded saying, “We do not have the luxury of thinking about repercussions forever; the time to act is now.”
Brian Fishman expressed a lack of optimism for McCain’s plan and asserted that “good intentions don’t make good policy.” Syria is not comparable to Libya, Bosnia, Kosovo, or Iraq, Fishman said, because the stakes are higher. The opportunities are high and the risks are high. One of the biggest risks is one of “mission creep.” Fishman argued that the creation of a safe zone isn’t a viable option because the Assad regime would likely react extremely aggressively, thus forcing a United States response and pulling U.S. forces deeper into the conflict. Fishman also expressed a great fear of jihadi groups inside Syria and said that he did “not believe that the Syrian opposition is capable of controlling the jihadi elements.” What the United States should really be doing, Fishman concluded, is focusing on “limiting the spread of the conflict.”
[ED NOTES: BRIAN FISHERMAN FROM NEW AMERICAN FOUNDATION...THIS NAF?
New America Foundation www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=New_America_Foundation Board of Directors- Walter Russell Mead - Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations/Jonathan Soros - President & Co-Deputy Chairman, Soros Fund Management, LLC/John C. Whitehead - Chairman, The Goldman Sachs Foundation/Susan Chambers - Executive Vice President, Wal-Mart/Ted Halstead President & CEO, New America Foundation.He was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland." [1]Advisory Council, Energy Future Coalition http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ted_Halstead ISPU has gained significant grant support from [ROCKEFELLERS FUND]
CLOSE FRIEND OF THE ZIONAZI WITCH JUDITH MILLER ....
David Schenker | Jerusalem Center For Public AffairsDavid Schenker Middle East Strategy at Harvard Syria: Between Negotiations with Israel and the Iranian Axis
2008 David Schenker
When Israel announced on May 21, 2008, that it had officially resumed negotiations with Syria in Turkey, not surprisingly, the Assad regime merely pocketed this diplomatic gain, providing no sign that it had any intention to meet Israeli requirements
Lee Smith proffered a wholly geopolitical approach to the Syria problem and asked “Why is the fall of Assad important strategically?” Smith suggested that the administration’s foot-dragging on Syria revealed that Iran was not the “central issue” it is portrayed as in the media. This is because, if the Iranian threat was significant, the United States would be doing anything it could to confront Iran via Syria. Finally, Smith said that if Syria and Iran were actually important to U.S. foreign policy makers, they wouldn’t be letting Russia take the lead in negotiations with them.
In the question and answer session, David Fishman was asked to defend his critiques of McCain’s intervention plan and his focus on jihadi elements in Syria. Fishman explained that he was worried about military intervention because the loss of Syria as an ally could “entrench Iran’s desire for a nuclear weapon.” Fishman also described how the Assad regime manipulates jihadi groups to keep the Alawites united behind him. Another question was raised about the possibility of an internal Alawi coup. One panelist responded that a coup was perhaps what the U.S. government was waiting for as their solution to the “Assad problem” but asserted that the Syrian opposition would never consider an internal transfer of power sufficient reform to bring an end the conflict.
[ED NOTES:THIS LEE SMITH IS JUST A PUNDIT NEOCON,ZIONIST SHILL OFFERING MISDIRECTION AND NONSENSE...THE US HAS BEEN QUITE PROACTIVE ARMING REBELS AND SYRIAN OPPOSITION FOR THE LAST YEAR..THIS IS WHY THEY PRETEND TO BE PLAYING THE BACKSTAGE ROLE IN NEGOTIATIONS...ANYWAY LOOK WHO LE SMIT WORKS FOR.. The Weekly Standard magazine is considered the prime voice of Republican neoconservatives, and one of the most influential publications in Washington under the Bush Administration. [1] Founded under Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, it was first published on September 17, 1995. On June 17, 2009, Philip F. Anschutz's Clarity Media Group announced it had acquired The Weekly Standard.[2] The magazine's editor is William Kristol, son of leading neoconservative Irving Kristol. William Kristol is also the chairman of the controversialProject for the New American Century.
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