Bad ideas never die. In recent days, as President Obama has geared up for a primetime Wednesday speech outlining his strategy for defeating the Islamic State, pundits and foreign policy mandarins have taken to op-ed pages to tell us that he should join forces with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supposedly a lesser evil—an acceptable if unsavory ally to defeat the murderous jihadis. The problem is that—setting aside the morality of working with a man responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Syrians—Assad remains the worst possible partner in the fight against the Islamic State (also known by the acronyms ISIL and ISIS). The gains of such tactical cooperation are massively outweighed by its strategic downsides and political costs.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 22:21:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015