There is no easy way out of such a stalemated struggle, and this one threatens the stability of the whole Middle East. So the United States and its allies must enlist the cooperation of Mr. Assad’s allies — Russia and, especially, Iran — to find a power-sharing arrangement for a post-Assad Syria that all sides can support, however difficult that may be to achieve.
You see, he fears continued fighting in Syria. That precious "stability" bought by a thug holding his people down with fear and blood is at risk, and some analysts think the highest duty we have is to restore "stability"--no matter what.
Sticking it to enemies of America is a good thing. We can get revenge for years of Assad supporting Baathist and jihadi killers in Iraq and weaken Iran in the process. I call that a double-win.
Will it be painless? Probably not. But that is no reason to pull back from the cusp of a victory to give Assad a chance to continue his rule of Syria.
Is this to be the pattern we want to set? Any thug ruler can promise to make things worse just to get the West to support the thug ruler lest stability be endangered?
Oh, and the example of Syrian troops rescuing Lebanon from civil war neglects that Syrian domination just led to new problems and a Hezbollah state-within-a-state in southern Lebanon that threatens to start a wider war if it bombards Israel again.
I don't expect clean wins. Just work the next problem. Good grief, people, if you want happily ever after, go watch a Disney movie.
UPDATE: Max Boot doesn't think much of the author's suggestion, either:
The way forward in Syria does not lie in trying to perpetuate Iran’s malign influence, which is likely to be employed to keep the civil war going by providing backing for Assad’s security forces. The best bet at this point is to work, along with relatively moderate regional allies such as Turkey, the UAE, the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq, and Jordan, to bolster the more moderate rebel factions and to try to help them build up security and governance capacity so that they can take over once Assad is gone.
If our enemies are going to lose--let them lose. Is that such a hard concept to grasp?
