In a piece for the Daily Caller, July 27, Struan Stevenson, President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association had this to say, “Barack Obama has faced an onslaught of criticism about his reluctance to get involved in the bloody civil war in Syria. Critics claim his reticence has enabled Bashar al-Assad to butcher men, women and children at will in cities like Aleppo, without fear of retribution, in a conflict that has raged for more than 6 years.”
Stevenson claims that America’s disinclination to engage has allowed Vladimir Putin and to the Iranian regime to increase support for Assad and their influence in the Middle East.
He says, “Obama’s only focus in the zone has been the fight against Daesh (ISIS) and in Syria this has manifested itself indirectly in America backing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), arch-enemies of the USA’s main regional ally and NATO stalwart – Turkey.”
Obama’s determination to defeat of Daesh in Mosul in Nineveh Province, Northern Iraq, is his main focus, as he hopes to score a major foreign-policy victory before he leaves office at the end of 2016, according to Stevenson.
He adds, “Ironically, it was President Obama’s misguided support for Iraq’s former corrupt and sectarian Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that prepared the ground for Daesh in Iraq. Nouri al-Maliki was shoehorned into power as Iraq’s puppet Prime Minister at the insistence of the Iranian regime and with the outright support of the Americans. His venal corruption and genocidal policy of aggression against Iraq’s Sunni population catapulted the country into civil war and opened the door for the invasion of Daesh and their subsequent seizure of vast tracts of Iraqi territory. Maliki is still a manipulative force in Iraqi political circles using the gigantic wealth he accumulated during eight years in office to finance his own private army and continually to undermine his successor Haider al-Abadi.”
