What would you do in Syria

[Benton]

(04-06-2017, 09:00 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: This should have been taken care of during the Obama Administration. We should have sat down with  representatives of the Assad government and the non-ISIS rebels, Russia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and representatives from the EU (all interested parties by ISIS) and hammered out an agreement.

But the time for that is past. We refuse to talk to Iran, one of Assad's buddies. Our relations with Russia is now stretched due to the Ukraine sanctions and their meddling in elections. The Turkish government has now transitioned from a liberal secular government to a conservative Muslim government which has doubled down on their anti-Kurd stance. Basically, we have no real strings to pull with parties that can influence things there. Sending ground forces isn't really an option (it is very possible they would get bombed by the Russians). All we can really do now is bomb ISIS and watch as the Assad government retakes the country with Russia's help.

Big win for Russia and Assad.

Agreed. When the allegations (by the UN) of war crimes came out, Obama and the EU should have taken advantage and forced him to sit down.

As far as the thread and what I would do at this point, offer help to the refugees. Get rid of the ridiculous travel ban and instead of spending billions blowing up the parts Assad and Putin aren't blowing up, spend ten of millions relocating and helping them. That's been my stance for the last couple years, hasn't really changed much.