The best way to support Syrian refugees is to make conditions in their country better. Here's how...
The U.S. should arm and support Syrian President Assad's army to clean out "ISIS"/al-Nusra/al Qaeda from Syria. Who better to be boots on the ground than the actual people of Syria -- the Syrian Army.
In concert with Russian aerial bombardment of these same terrorists' positions, terrorists in Syria would be cleaned out in 3 to 6 months.
The real question is: Why aren't we doing that?
The obvious answer is that the prevailing policy in the U.S. is (although it seems they're opening to compromise) that Assad has to go. But why?
Why would the U.S. FIRST AND FOREMOST seek the ouster of Syria's legitimate President Bashar al-Assad? I thought fighting terrorism (in the form of "ISIS"/al-Nusra/al Qaeda) was our biggest concern? Indeed, it's not Assad who seeks war with the U.S. It's these radical Sunni terror groups who have taken over parts of Syria and seek Assad's ouster.
What the U.S. claims it wants, and what U.S. actions demonstrate are completely opposite. What is the old saying?... "Watch what I do; not what I say." And, "Actions speak louder than words".
The U.S. neoconservative agenda -- the prevailing foreign policy since 2001 -- is beginning to reveal itself to the mainstream in America now. The world knew it for what it was pretty quickly. But now the very people whose tax dollars pay for these ideological and corporate money-making foreign excursions using the public's money and blood, are being exposed.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 60091995 Another thing...
The U.S. has been hesitant to provide the Kurds the heavy weapons they have asked for. Why? Because our "ally" (cough! cough!) Turkey fears the Kurds. The Kurds have been fighting for a homeland of their own, carved out from small pieces of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria for a long time. Also, Turkey's Erdogan has always sought the destabilization of President Assad in Syria, hoping for a sort of Muslim Brotherhood in Syria to replace Assad. LOL! Isn't that exactly what happened after President Hosni Mubarak's ouster in Egypt? The Muslim Brotherhood took power, allegedly tried to change the Egyptian Constitution, and they were overthrown by the Egyptian military, with General el-Sisi as the new leader. So a secular military general was overthrown (Mubarak), replaced by a radical sect of Islam (Muslim Brotherhood), only to be replaced with another secular military general (el-Sisi) after the Egyptian people realized what they had voted in.
It's time for Erdogan and Turkey to bite the bullet. We've had their back for a long time. They have gotten off scot-free from any repercussions of the million-person slaughter of Armenians in the early 20th century. For you Israel supporters, Turkey had that humanitarian ship to Gaza fiasco, riling up tensions with Israel. The Kurds deserve a homeland. Everyone else has one. They've been a staunch ally of the West in most cases, even after we've left them twisting in the wind on more than one occasion.
It's time to arm the Kurds with the heavy weaponry they need to rout "ISIS" from eastern Syria. This, along with supporting and arming the Syrian Army from the west, and Russian airstrikes from above, will be the trifecta that will crush "ISIS"/al-Nusra/al Qaeda in Syria once and for all.
Also, we need to stop the flow of "ISIS" oil crossing from Syria into Turkey, and "ISIS" fighters, weapons, and supplies crossing from Turkey into Syria. That border is the lifeline of "ISIS". The Russians are doing an effective job of stopping that cross-border flow. A well-equipped Syrian Army and Kurdish army would increase that effectiveness.
Turkey's Erdogan (and Iraq and Assad) should be forced to accept a modest Kurdish homeland carved out of relatively small pieces of their countries. God knows those three countries and their European-constructed borders have been living on borrowed time for almost a century now. It's time to correct the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916; at least for the Kurds. They've more than earned it.
