Assad: We'll give up chemical weapons once U.S. stops arming rebels

[orenbus]

85. Agree with some of the things you say

I agree with some of the points you make but as far as the war not being over in short order or the opposition being tenacious, you have to consider the region and the players involved. One could make a parallel argument, why isn't that the opposition has not completely died down in Iraq or Afganistan even after the most powerful country in the world and sole superpower has invested trillions of dollars of state of the art weapons of war, the cost of 5,000+ soldiers and 600,000+ disabled soldiers over the course of a decade?

Opposition is how it is defined and in a region that has seen nothing but turbulence driven from culture and environment that supports extreme ideologies due in some case to uncontrollable circumstances is something that needs to be considered.

As far as keeping dictators propted up you have to remember the United States has also had a history of this in the region one clear example backing Sadam Hussein during his war with Iran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_war