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Trump's ignorant actionsReader comment on item: No to Bombing Syria Submitted by Jason Pappas (United States), Apr 9, 2017 at 08:32 Trump made a major blunder, perhaps on the order of Eisenhower's 1956 intervention in the Suez Crisis, which led to the withdrawal and humiliation of the colonial powers—Britain and France—from the Middle East. This led to greater and greater intervention culminating in the Iraqi nations-building debacle. Syria was in Russia's sphere of influence. Let them own it. Russia has the longest border with the Islamic world and can't avoid the fight with Sunni jihadi. Assad is a secular dictator and of little threat to us. It was in Russia's interest to join with him to fight Sunni jihadi. It will be ugly but so was Russia's fight against the jihadi in Chechnya. Russia may be a rival but she is an enemy of our enemy. Iran is a separate problem and fighting Assad is a poor way to deal with Iranian fundamentalism. If Trump regards the strike as aimed at a tactic, chemical weapons, and not Assad, we can still pull out of Syria, while focusing on Iran. That should be the focus. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". Daniel Pipes replies: Glad we agree. But who Assad is at this point hardly matters; he is a functionary of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Reader comments (48) on this item
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All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |