Hindsight Not Twenty-Twenty

In an opinion piece on MarketWatch, writer Steve Goldstein says Paris Attacks Show U.S. Should Reverse Policy on Syria’s Assad.

Bashar al-Assad is a vile and murderous dictator. We should embrace him.

That’s an alternative that should be on the table in the wake of the attacks on Paris apparently committed by the Islamic State.

There may well have a been a time for a credible, back-an-Assad-alternative strategy in Syria, but years of dithering and an unwillingness to provide even air support by the White House has taken that off the table.

Yes, it will be revolting to embrace Assad — and his patron, Vladimir Putin. But it’s better to cozy up to the fascists who don’t want to kill you than the fascists who do.

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

I give zero credit to after-the-fact quarterbacking by Steve Goldstein.

I do give credit to the tiny percentage of us who noted up-front how insane it was to remove Saddam Hussein.

And in regards to Syria, those thinking properly never backed support for the alleged "moderate" Al Qaeda rebels seeking to overthrow Assad.

Negative Credit

The best Goldstein can come up with is "There may well have a been a time for a credible, back-an-Assad-alternative strategy in Syria ..."

Quite frankly, there was NEVER a credible time to overthrow Assad. There was NEVER a credible time to militarily take out Saddam Hussein.

Johnny-come-latelys like Goldstein are like those rooting for policy A then taking an "I told you so" stance when it became clear policy B was correct.

Goldstein gets zero credit.

The sad thing is he is better than the last two US presidents, one Republican and one Democrat, who get negative credit.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock