US arms support in Syria refutes talks: Expert

Press TV has interviewed William Jones, Executive Intelligence Review, from Leesburg, to discuss the double standards of the US on Syria.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: This US decision to resume sending arms does come off as a bit ironic considering it’s also at the Geneva II talks, doesn’t it?

Jones: It’s very contradictory. It doesn’t make sense. If there was a real intent to try and come to some kind of diplomatic solution, one of the first things that would try to do is to stop the violence.

But now what they’re doing is they’re feeding in more guns and ammunition. The violence will increase and it’s hard to see how negotiations under those circumstances can lead to a lasting peace.

Press TV: Going forward, do you think that the United States will continue such a double-track policy, if I may call it that, of both saying that it sides with negotiations and at the same time arms “insurgents”?

Jones: I think there’ll be an attempt to do that. Obviously there are people on this side of the fence who do want to move towards a diplomatic solution.

But the administration is trying to play both ends to appease both those who want more military support to the so-called rebels and those who want to bring everybody to the peace table.

I think there’s also an attempt to try and improve the situation with the rebels as they’re moving in to the diplomatic solution.

But it’s a very contradictory policy and I just could not see that the discussions themselves could lead to anything concrete as long as there’s a policy of supporting the violence in the region which they’re doing by the measures they’re now taking and giving arms to the rebels.

Press TV: When you speak about these contradictory policies coming out of Washington, is this down to a division within the US government, do you think, vis-à-vis Syria?

Jones: I think there’s divided opinions on this. You’ve got a president whose pretty much shown that he really can’t make decisions of this nature and so he’s somewhat in a situation – he’s being pulled from both parties and he’s trying to play the middle, so to speak. Therefore, you’ve got a policy which effectively is leading to more violence in the region and not to peaceful negotiations.