US, allies policy towards Syria, foolish and dangerous

A former US Senate foreign policy analyst tells Press TV that the United States’ and its allies’ policy of attempting to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is foolish and dangerous.

The unrest in Syria began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence. The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants in the country are foreign nationals.

Press TV has conducted an interview with James Jatras, a former US Senate foreign Policy analyst from Washington, to further shed light on the issue. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV: Your reaction? I am gathering that perhaps there is now going to be a push of these fighters into Syria?

Jatras: That is correct and we are already now hearing reports in the United States that we are looking forward to the next war that once the Assad government collapses, there will then be a fight between these so-called moderates and the al-Nusra Front and other Jihadists in the opposition and that somehow we hope that the moderates will come out on top.

I think there is very little basis for that kind of confidence that instead you would think the sensible thing would be for us to take a step back and say why are we once again finding ourselves supporting al-Qaeda-linked Jihadi radicals that are hardly friends of the United States.

Press TV: Of course is there a possibility now that the US is going to back down from these supports that they have been giving, the non-lethal aid, as what Barack Obama has called it? Are they not worried about these AIDS, which may translate into arms falling into the hands of these terrorist groups?

Jatras: I would like to be optimistic but at the moment, I do not see any basis for it. A couple of months ago, it did seem that there were some room for a constructive approach in concert with the Russians, the Chinese and the Security Council for a brokered settlement and a power sharing arrangement through negotiation.

It seems that Washington and the Obama administration has now backed off of that and that together with our Turkish and our Saudi and our [Persian] Gulf state friends, we have gone back to plan A, which is to overthrow, a regime change in Syria and then we will somehow try to make sure that the most radical forces and the groups that we are supporting do not come to power.

I think it is a foolish policy; it is a dangerous policy and one that is now approaching the level of criminality, in my opinion.