Naïve Sen. John McCain in Syria to Try for Support for Syrian Rebels

No, These Are Not All Nice People – They Are a Disparate Group, Some of Whom Are Al Qaeda Supported

For Senator John McCain there seems to be no war that he does not like, no conflict that he does not want to involve U. S. troops.  The various debacles in the Middle East are all in part a result of Mr. McCain and his ‘let’s go to war’ cohorts involvement in situations which they just did not understand.  Now Mr. McCain is at it again.

May 27, 2013, 3:49 pm

McCain Travels to Syria to Meet With Rebel Forces

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who has called for the United States to intervene militarily in Syria, traveled to Syria on Monday to meet with rebel forces fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, according to a spokesman for Mr. McCain. It was the first time that a United States senator had gone to Syria to meet with the rebels since the conflict there began two years ago.

Mr. McCain entered Syria from southern Turkey, according to his spokesman, Brian Rogers, who added that the senator had been in the region to attend the World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan over the weekend.

The problem here is that like many other people who see the world as simply black and white, Mr. McCain does not understand that the rebel forces in Syria are not a single group of freedom fighters.  Instead they are a complex mixture of sects, some of whom really, really hate us and some of whom are really, really a bunch of bad people.

AS THE civil war in Syria has dragged on, the rebels have become more Islamist and extreme. For Western governments pondering whether to arm them, Jabhat al-Nusra (Victory Front) is the biggest worry. Its global jihadist ideology justifies violence to bring about a nation where all Muslims unite. It enjoys murky sources of private funding, including regular payments from al-Qaeda in Iraq. Ahrar al-Sham has more local aims, but its comrades are also vehemently Islamist. Other umbrella groups, such as Liwa al-Tawhid in Aleppo, Syria’s embattled second city, are harder to classify, in part because they serve as franchises or bring together smaller groups with a range of ideas.

The Farouq Battalions, whose territorial reach goes from Homs to Hasaka in the north-east, is another mixed bag, ranging from Islamists to people with no particular ideology. The Supreme Military Command, led by General Salim Idriss, a Sunni defector from President Assad’s army, includes some able commanders but still lacks the cash and arms to match either the regime’s forces or Jabhat al-Nusra, which ignores the military command. Ominously, rebels from more secular-minded or more moderately Islamist groups speak openly of a second war to come—against Jabhat al-Nusra. 

Thanks in large part to the wrong headed policy of the United States in the 1950’s when it deposed an elected government in Iran and installed the Shah, there is now in the nation of Iran a government that could well unleash a region wide war in the area.

So if Mr. McCain is successful, here’s the group he could bring to power.

For Western governments pondering whether to arm the rebels rather than merely advise them and provide non-lethal support, Jabhat al-Nusra is the biggest worry. By some estimates, it now has 6,000 carefully vetted men, mainly Syrians but under foreign leadership. Its global jihadist ideology justifies violence to bring about a nation where all Muslims unite. “Most groups are a reaction to the regime, whereas we are fighting for a vision,” explains one of its fighters.

Look Senator McCain, while you are in the Middle East take a look at your work in Iraq.  Not a pretty picture, is it.

At Least 53 Are Killed in Bombings in Baghdad

European Pressphoto Agency

The scene of a car bombing in central Baghdad on Monday. A wave of attacks in Shiite neighborhoods added to fears of renewed sectarian fighting.