Here's What Rahm Emanuel Said That Caused This Podcaster to Totally Melt Down
Why People Are Posting About JD Vance After Pope Francis Passed Away
FDA Announces Major 'Make America Healthy Again' Shakeup
Federal Court Shuts Down Trump's Effort to Dismantle 'Voice of America'
Trump’s Deportation Plan Hits Another Legal Roadblock, Thanks to This Federal Judge
Radical Islamic Terrorists Kill at Least 20 Tourists in Bloody Assault
Gun Control Group Hopes No One Will Remember Its Founder's Own Words
More of Dems in Disarray: Gavin Newsom Criticizes Party for Failing to Figure...
'60 Minutes' Producer Resigns Amid Trump Lawsuit Chaos and CBS Backlash
Rubio Announces Major Shakeup at State Department
Democrats Can Go to El Salvador on GOP Dime, on One Condition
Yet Another Poll Brings Catastrophic News for Democrats
Former CDC Director Happy the White House Is Talking About COVID's Origin
You Won’t Believe How Many California Voters Support Giving Illegal Aliens Free Health...
Sick: Coachella's Jihad Fan Club
OPINION

I Wish Nobody Was Bombing Syria

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

The U.S. regime change policy for Syria has been a catastrophe. More than 200,000 killed and an entire country reduced to rubble at least partly because President Obama decided that "Assad has lost his legitimacy."

Advertisement

How is it that the president of a country 6,000 miles away has the authority to decide whether another leader belongs in office or not? What if Rouhani in Iran decided that Obama had lost his legitimacy for killing a number of American citizens by drone without charge or trial? Would we accept that?

At least three years of U.S. efforts to train rebels to overthrow the Syrian government has produced, as General Lloyd Austin, Commander of U.S. Central Command, testified last month, "four or five" trained and vetted "moderates" in Syria. The $500 million appropriated for this purpose has disappeared.

The neocon solution to this failure to overthrow Assad and "degrade and destroy" ISIS is to increase the bombing and lead a ground invasion of Syria. The confusing policy of fighting Assad and also fighting his enemies does not seem to bother the neocons. They want us to forget all about their recent failures in Libya and Iraq and to try the same failed strategy one more time.

But something dramatic happened last week. Russian president Vladimir Putin delivered a speech at the United Nations criticizing the U.S. policy of partnering with one set of extremists - al-Qaeda and its allies - to attack both ISIS and Assad. "Do you realize now what you have done?" asked Putin.

Advertisement

Shortly after Putin's UN speech, he requested and was granted authority from the Russian parliament to use force in Syria in response to the Syrian government's request for assistance against the rebels. Russian fighters and bombers began flying sorties over Syria almost immediately. In less than a week of Russian bombing, considerable damage appears to have been done to both ISIS and to al-Qaeda affiliates - some of which are considered allies by the U.S. and were actually trained by the CIA.

It may be tempting to cheer Russian military action in Syria, as it seems ISIS is finally suffering some considerable losses. Press reports suggest large numbers of desertions in their ranks after the Russian attacks. All of a sudden what looked to be an inevitable ISIS takeover of Syria once Assad was overthrown, seems far less likely with the Russians on the scene.

But I cannot cheer the bombs, whether they are Russian bombs or US bombs or French or British bombs. I do not believe a terrorist group created by foreign intervention in the region will be solved by more foreign intervention in the region. Bombs represent a total failure of policy. They destroy a country's economy and infrastructure.

Advertisement

I wish the American people would finally demand that their government end its destructive policy of trying to change any regime that does not bow to Washington's demands. I wish Congress respected our Constitution enough to demand that the president seek a declaration of war before attacking a foreign country. I wish President Bush and his neocon advisors had never decided to overthrow the Syrian government. I wish President Obama had fired the neocons who led him from one foolish intervention to another. I wish the CIA had not trained rebels to fight alongside al-Qaeda in Syria. I wish we would reject the shrill cries of the warmongers. I wish the U.S. media was more than just a propaganda arm of the U.S. government.

I am not thrilled that Russia is bombing Syria. I wish nobody was bombing Syria.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement