Syria As An Example Of The Obama Administration's Middle East Failure

Barry Rubin writes about The Pro-Islamist Obama Administration: A Case Study in Syria:

Almost a year ago today, November 17, 2011 to be specific, I analyzed the new Syrian opposition leadership created by the Obama Administration through the services of the Islamist regime in Turkey. It was already obvious that the Syrian National Council (SNC) was a Muslim Brotherhood front group, yet the Obama Administration backed it any way.

Even if you aren’t interested in this specific issue, the SNC story is a terrific case study of how the Obama Administration has trashed U.S. interests abroad, and especially in the Middle East.

Barry Rubin: U.S. Syrian Policy: A Massacre in Progress; A Disgrace in the Making

The following by Barry Rubin is reposted with permission:

U.S. Syrian Policy: A Massacre in Progress;
A Disgrace in the Making

Another monitoring mission, another set of people from all over the world making excuses, trying to explain the unexplainable and getting frustrated and fired upon to boot. When will the world follow a plan that makes sense. To the world we say: Give us what we need to get the mission accomplished, not what you need to feel good about yourselves."
--Syrian Revolution Digest, April 21, 2012

By Barry Rubin

U.S. policy toward Syria is turning into a scandal on both strategic and humanitarian grounds. The next three months will be wasted in a toothless observer effort during which time the Syrian regime will go on massacring people and mopping up the rebellion. In addition, U.S. policymakers admit that they have no real back-up policy and what they should do next.

And then to show how ridiculous the whole thing is, Syrian troops opened fire at oppositionists trying to talk to the UN monitors, forcing the observers to flee for their lives and injuring eight demonstrators. The UN responds by proposing a few dozen more, equally helpless, observers.

The Middle East Sampler 4/27/12: Obama And The Failure In Syria

From DG:

1) Not saving Syria

America's Syria Abdication by Fouad Ajami

The defining truth of this struggle is the abdication of the Obama administration. For a year now, American officials have skillfully run out the clock. They made much of the authority of the U.N. Security Council when any model U.N. team in any high school would have predicted the vetoes of Russia and China. It was clear that the Obama administration did not want to arm the opposition for fear of "escalating" the conflict.