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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAre Syrian "moderates" all that moderate?
Blocking a 'Realist' Strategy on the Mideasthttp://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/25999-focus-blocking-a-realist-strategy-on-the-mideast
The moderate rebels also dont share President Obamas priority of carrying the fight to the Islamic State militants, reported Hubbard, ousting Mr. Assad remains their primary goal.
This dilemma of the mixed allegiances of the moderates has been apparent for at least the past year. Last September, many of the previously hailed Syrian moderate rebels unveiled themselves to be Islamists who repudiated the U.S.-backed political opposition and allied themselves with al-Qaedas al-Nusra Front.
In other words, the just-approved congressional action opening the floodgates to hundreds of millions of dollars more in military aid to Syrian moderates could actually contribute to al-Qaedas Syrian affiliate gaining control of Syria, which could create a far greater threat to U.S. national security than the consolidation of the Islamic State inside territory of Syria and Iraq.
While the Islamic State brandishes its brutality as a gruesome tactic for driving Western interests out of the Middle East, it has shown no particular interest in taking its battle into the West. By contrast, al-Qaeda follows a conscious strategy of inflicting terrorist attacks on the West as part of a long-term plan to wreck the economies of the United States and Europe.
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Are Syrian "moderates" all that moderate? (Original Post)
eridani
Sep 2014
OP
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)1. This is a tribal/race war
Not too many moderates out there when everyone knows the winner will genocide the loser.
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)2. Are the Syrian rebels actually Syrian anymore?
It seems like they've been overwhelmed by foreign interlopers.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)3. the ones whose terror campaigns are mostly prank phone calls
"We will destroy the west by ordering pizzas to peoples' homes and leaving bad reviews on Yelp!"
JCMach1
(27,555 posts)4. Give a rebel a kalashnikov and he'll want a caliphate
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)5. Toon