Dear Mr. President,
With all due respect Mr. President, are you kidding me? You say that "Tens of thousands have been killed by the dictatorial regime of Bashar al-Assad, millions have fled for their lives, and terrorist groups like ISIL are exacerbating the strife." Does that mean I am to believe all those opposition forces sent into Syria by Saudi Arabia and Turkey to kill the kafirs, i.e. the Alawites, Armenians, Assyrians, Druze, Kurds, Yazidi, Arab Christians, Shiites and secular Sunni Muslims are altogether blameless for the Syrian tragedy? You even seem to want to give ISIL a pass for merely exacerbating the strife which you apparently believe Bashar al-Assad is solely responsible for. I know you are not a foolish person Mr. President, so I can only conclude you must be kidding me.
You say, "America’s objectives in Syria are clear: we will continue to go after terrorist groups that threaten the United States and our allies and partners, we will work to relieve the humanitarian suffering, and we will support a political transition away from the Asad regime." But I say, and I believe the preponderance of the available evidence supports me, is that the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria is no more a threat to the United States than the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq or the Muammar Kaddafi regime in Libya were a threat to the United States. You know, I know, in fact everyone, with the possible exception of Dick Cheney and John McCain, knows that those two examples of what you call 'political transitions' but I call 'regime changes' did precious little to advance American interests in this world.
You say we will continue to go after the terrorist groups in Syria. I assume by 'terrorist groups' you mean ISIL, al- Qaeda and affiliated groups like Jabhat al-Nusra.That's good. I agree with you. We should do that. I also agree with what you said about not committing large numbers of American ground troops to take part in the Syrian civil war. So why then are you intent on removing Bashar al-Assad from power when his Syrian army with support from Iran and Hezbollah is the only effective on the ground fighting force opposing ISIL, al-Qaeda and the many other jihadist groups in Syria? No, I haven't forgotten about the CIA backed so called 'moderate' rebel forces who are also on the ground and supposedly committed to opposing ISIL at the same time they are opposing the Syrian army. The problem with them, aside from the fact they have been relatively ineffective as a fighting force, is that just like the CIA backed mujahedeen in Afghanistan way back when, it is a fiction to call them 'moderate' if by that term you mean they are secularists whose objective is to replace the Assad regime with a democratic government dedicated to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by all the people of Syria. The truth is this current brand of CIA backed jihadists you call 'moderates' are no different than the former brand of CIA mujahedeen in Afghanistan who morphed into what we now call al-Qaeda and ISIL. These 'moderates' may be taking their direction and getting their pay from the CIA today, but you can be certain that when the time is right they will revert to form and join with their band of blood brothers in ISIL and al-Qaeda to join in the attack on the kafiri infidels, which includes you and me just as much as it includes Bashar al-Assad.
Again, with all due respect Mr. President I feel you are being somewhat disingenuous in the second paragraph of your reply by pointing the finger at Bashar al-Assad alone for the deaths of all the Syrians killed in their civil war without even mentioning the fact that the Syrian army isn't the only armed force in the country. I'm sure you are aware of what has recently taken place in Palmyra, and I don't think you can blame Assad for those atrocities. Isn't casting the blame entirely on Bashar al-Assad for the civilian deaths in Syria akin to saying President Abraham Lincoln was solely responsible for the estimated 200,000 civilians killed during the American Civil War? With that said I won't comment any further on the second paragraph of your reply except to say I commend you for your concern over the plight of the Syrian refugees. Lets all hope that the aid and assistance you speak of actually reaches the Syrian people.
In your third paragraph you say finding an end to the war in Syria is not possible as long as Assad remains in power, but you don't explain why you believe that. Certainly you must understand that if the war ends because the jihadist forces are successful in deposing Assad, Syria is sure to wind up as another Libyan style disaster. No Mr. President, I'm afraid you are mistaken on this one too. The war can be ended while Bashar al-Assad is still in power and without turning the country into another failed Middle East state. How? First of all, by doing exactly as you have suggested. Pressing (I would prefer you say 'negotiating with') Iran and Russia to effect an immediate cessation of all offensive military action by the Syrian Army and its supporters, and at the same time negotiating with (or 'pressing', if you like) Saudi Arabia, the other GCC countries, and Turkey to end all aid and assistance to ISIL, al-Qaeda and other Jihadist rebel forces in Syria. At the same time, working in conjunction with Iran and Russia, The United States must do everything it can to convince the Saudis, the Turks and our own CIA that they have no other viable option than to order their proxies to also cease all offensive military action. Any group that dares to ignore the order to lay down their arms, be it either the Syrian army or Hezbollah, the 'moderate' opposition or the 'extremist' jihadists must understand that that they will be completely annihilated for their transgression by a combined U.S., Western European, Russian and Iranian military force operating with UN Security Council authorization. Once a cease fire is firmly in place under these conditions, the Syrian people, and only the Syrian people, should be allowed to freely decide their own future, including how and by whom they are to be governed.
I know what I am suggesting is overly simplistic, but there should be enough there in principle to get started on finding a way out of the morass that is Syria today.
I want to thank you for replying to my e-mail, and I also want to wish you every possible success during the time remaining in your second term. I believe you and Secretary Kerry did a fantastic job in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, and I hope you can build on that success by employing a similar diplomatic solution to end the disastrous war in Syria.
Sincerely,
Donald Johnson
No comments:
Post a Comment