Russia says jet shot down near Turkey-Syria border

[Aria36]

173. But are those reasons valid?

Thanks for the informative response. That helps explain why liberals supported it (at the time), but it doesn't seem like either of those reasons are valid at this point. The rebellion initially seemed progressive & secular, but now seems dominated by radical Islamists. Many of the initial Arab Spring successes (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya) are now themselves struggling w/rebellions, terrorism & civil war.

I wonder if the US public was suckered into this in the same way we were suckered into the Iraq War. Freedom, democracy! It does seem like we like to view these uprisings as progressive revolutions like the American Revolution, instead of, say, Iran's revolution. The Iranian revolution had some secular progressives too, but the Islamic fundamentalists ended up taking over. In the Middle East, I wonder whether Iran's example might be the more predictive one.