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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPetraeus: Use Al Qaeda Fighters to Beat ISIS
Members of al Qaedas branch in Syria have a surprising advocate in the corridors of American power: retired Army general and former CIA Director David Petraeus.
The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been quietly urging U.S. officials to consider using so-called moderate members of al Qaedas Nusra Front to fight ISIS in Syria, four sources familiar with the conversations, including one person who spoke to Petraeus directly, told The Daily Beast.
The heart of the idea stems from Petraeuss experience in Iraq in 2007, when as part of a broader strategy to defeat an Islamist insurgency the U.S. persuaded Sunni militias to stop fighting with al Qaeda and to work with the American military.
The tactic worked, at least temporarily. But al Qaeda in Iraq was later reborn as ISIS, and has become the sworn enemy of its parent organization. Now, Petraeus is returning to his old play, advocating a strategy of co-opting rank-and-file members of al Nusra, particularly those who dont necessarily share all of core al Qaedas Islamist philosophy.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/31/petraeus-use-al-qaeda-fighters-to-beat-isis.html
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)I've been advocating the end-timers and fundies here that hate Muslims should be sent over there to get their holy war on. When it's all said and done the winner gets a patch of desert and nothing else from the rest of the World.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)repeat, NOT, because we go meddle in the domestic affairs outside our jurisdiction, even encouraging civil wars, though it is certain that civilians will die as a result.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Hash out a deal with Iraq that the Kurds can found Kurdistan in northern Iraq if they defeat ISIS.
- Iraq needs the Kurds because their own army sucks. They don't have much of a choice.
- Iraq is best friends with Iran and the Kurds have close cultural ties with Iran.
- I'm sure, Iran wouldn't mind having yet another ally in the Middle-East now that Assad is going down.
- Turkey first gave ISIS leeway in funneling new recruits through Turkey and now they pretend to fight ISIS while bombing the guys who fight ISIS. Turkey can go suck dick. (There was an ISIS-suicide-bombing recently that struck turkish supporters of the Kurds. Seconds later the turkish police showed up, closed all exits and attacked the survivors with tear-gas...)
- Saudi-Arabia literally created Al-Qaeda and the ideology behind ISIS while urging for leaving murderous dictators like Gaddafi alone. Saudi-Arabia can go suck dick.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)Also, we have airbases there (and possibly nuclear weapons that we don't admit having there) which would make alienating Turkey problematic.
Nevertheless, it's becoming increasingly obvious that we need to pursue a permanent resolution to the displacement of the Kurdish diaspora and landed population. Even proposals to give the Kurds a Kurdistan which ends at the Turkish border gets Istanbul's hackles up...so it's not going to be an easy resolution.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)most of iraq is the iran version of islam. the crazy pscyhos blowing such iraqi's up are the crazier version of islam. throw in iran with their weight, and saudis would start shitting themselves and throw in their weight. Now that I think about this, it would be the quickest way to just get rid of the whole place once and for all.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)marmar
(76,985 posts)...... is my friend.
U.S. Middle East policy in a nutshell.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)I think his girlfriend gave him syphilis.
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)They are a major threat to Iran, who are the sworn enemy of both Israel and (increasingly) Saudi Arabia. They are a major threat to the Kurds, who the Turkish government have been fighting for a long time now. And they are a major threat to the Syrian government, who are another enemy of Israel.
In addition, the immense amount of violence in Syria and Iraq means that the US and its allies are - in a way - distracted from other issues in the Middle East, which is convenient for many governments in the region.
Again, this is cynical geopolitics, and I'm not saying that I agree with what any of these governments are doing (or not doing, in this case). Just an attempt to provide some regional context.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)George Ball told LBJ to do with Vietnam in 1968: declare victory and get the hell out ASAP.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)a black eye": so damn clever
the question is, who'll we use ISIS to beat? PMOI's a good candidate, since we'll probably unleash them on ISIS next year--they have a woman leader! so what if they're a Saddam-backed genocidal pseudosocialist death cult?
we're now using dictators to attack the group that spun off of the group we supported against one of those dictators that we used to like and another group we formed in reaction to another group we formed that used to fight us, and which hooked up with the generals of the dictator we used to like but then fought and another group we used to support against another dictator that we supported against that group, which even Israel likes now; this group partly grew out of another group we supported against another regime by means of another regime and we directly funded one leader and told to get more radical
Octafish
(55,745 posts)And those who know that what you wrote MisterP are the real threat to the warmongers, banksters and traitors who make a killing er mint off the war without end national security racket.
daleo
(21,317 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)For instance, which side got what money from whom when and why?
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)For all his issues, he is still far better than anyone else fighting in Syria.
But we backed ourselves into a corner early saying he must go- so now we really have nobody in Syria to back.
Meanwhile Assaad is getting help anywhere he can, including having North Korean "advisors" on the ground there.