Hillary Clinton to Review US Syria Policy

ALEX GORKA | 02.08.2016 | WORLD

Hillary Clinton to Review US Syria Policy

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, plans to order a full review of the United States’ strategy in Syria if elected President.  

Jeremy Bash, Mrs Clinton’s advisor, stated that she would seek to end the rule of President Bashar al-Assad’s «murderous» regime.

«I predict that a Syria policy review will be one of the first items of business for the national security team», Mr Bash said, speaking on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention.

Jeremy Bash said, Mrs Clinton would both escalate the fight against the Islamic State group and work to get Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President, «out of there». «She sees the importance of American leadership as a first principle», he said. «Mrs Clinton believes that problems around the world can more easily be solved when America is involved and in each of those problems or crisis».

Clinton has the reputation of a politician more prone to hawkish attitude.

In 2002 Senator Clinton supported the invasion of Iraq. As Secretary of State she called for a military intervention in Libya. Mrs Clinton has advocated a more active role for the US military in Syria, including training and arming opposition groups, as well as putting some US forces on the ground to fight the Islamic State short of a full-scale combat mission. 

Mrs Clinton has called for «safe zones» for displaced Syrian civilians without making precise how this idea could be implemented.

According to Wikileaks, the aspiring presidential candidate wanted to put Syria into civil war in hopes of overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – something that Clinton calls as «the best way to help Israel», to nullify Iran’s nuclear power.

The leaked email also revealed that presidential runner Clinton wrote that it was the «right thing» to personally threaten the Syrian President’s family with death. And even though US intelligence had already dismissed Iran’s nuclear program, this didn’t stop Clinton from her warmongering as she seemed intent on destroying Syria for Israel’s sake.

«By any reasonable measure, Clinton qualifies as a hawk, if a nuanced one. Though she has opposed uses of force that she believed were a bad idea, she has consistently endorsed starting new wars and expanding others», writes Micah Zenko, a senior fellow with the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations, in his article for the Foreign Policy magazine.

Syria has been the subject of many debates in the US, with the military seeking a focus on the Islamic State group, the CIA wanting to shift entirely to the mission of ousting Assad. Secretary of State John Kerry is negotiating a deal with Russia to expand the war to include al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front.

In June, the hawkish Center for New American Security issued a report under the auspices of Michele Flournoy, Hillary Clinton’s likely pick for Secretary of Defense, calling for more «arming and training» of anti-government rebels, launching of «limited military strikes» against the Assad regime, and eliminating «artificial manpower limitations» on military missions in the country. 

Flournoy is also calling for creating a «no bombing» zone in Syria so that the Syrian «rebels» could be safe while making efforts to oust Bashar al-Assad.

The hawks have intensified the attacks against the administration recently calling for more efforts to topple Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. In June, 51 US diplomats wrote a letter asking the President to redirect US airstrikes in Syria toward defeating the Syrian leader.

The hawks-supported Clinton’s policy is wrong in essence. The Islamic State, not the Syrian government, Russia or whoever, is behind the terrorist acts in Europe and the US. It’s enough to recall the IS-inspired San Bernardino shooting.

The stated intention to review the policy on Syria comes at the time when Russia and the US are involved in very important talks on military cooperation in Syria.

Efforts to bridge the divide between the United States and Russia and bring Syrian government and opposition forces back to negotiations come after pro-government forces have effectively put rebel-held districts of Aleppo under siege. On July 29, Russian-US consultations kicked off in Geneva to work out joint measures aimed at stabilizing the situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said, he aimed to convene a new round of peace talks toward the end of August.

Hillary Clinton openly states she wants to make everything that has been achieved in Syria so far go down the drain. With Mrs Clinton coming to power, the UN-sponsored cessation of hostilities – the result of Russia-US joint diplomatic effort – will have no chance. Her obsessive idea of establishing «no-fly zones» over Syria and humanitarian corridors on the ground, would lead to partition of the country and embroil the US in the conflict as a power committed to providing security in the zone. Her plans will inevitably lead to deployment of large forces on the ground with all the implications such a step could entail. The country will plunge into chaos with the US pouring fuel on the flames of fire. Russia and the United States will balance on the brink of conflict. The US will increase its military presence in Iraq and, probably, get militarily involved in Libya, Yemen and elsewhere spending billions of taxpayers’ dollars at the time the US national debt has surpassed $19 trillion. Dubbed «Queen of Chaos» by the veteran journalist Diana Johnstone, she’ll be a President of war and destruction.

As Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has written, «A vote today for Hillary Clinton is a vote for endless war».

It’s up to American people to decide if they want their nation to repeat the mistakes of the past and face the terrible consequences of «Queen of Chaos» rule or choose Donald Trump – the candidate who offers an alternative to the hawkish foreign policy of saber-rattling and military ventures abroad.