#1248 Pipes at NRO: "Support the Syrian Rebels?"

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Please take a moment to visit and log in at the subscriber area, and submit your city & country location. We will use this information in future to invite you to any events that we organize in your area. Dear Reader: I have been on several television shows recently: 1.     "What's Behind the Boston Terror Attack?" on NBC's Philadelphia affiliate news program, NBC10@Issue, April 28. To watch, click here. 2.     "Radical Islamism: Daniel Pipes vs Eric Yoffie" on Shalom TV, taped on Feb. 7 and posted by the channel on May 3. An hour-long debate with the former president of the Union for Reform Judaism; watch for my particularly sharp comments about his warm relations with the Islamic Society of North America. To watch, click here. 3.     "Arabs condemn attacks on Syria" on Sun News Network of Canada's The Arena with Michael Coren, May 6.  To watch, click here. Yours sincerely, Daniel Pipes Support the Syrian Rebels? by Daniel Pipes May 11, 2013 Cross-posted from National Review Online, The Corner http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2013/05/support-the-syrian-rebels Send Comment RSS Share: Be the first of your friends to like this. A Washington Post article today, "Assad forces gaining ground in Syria" by Liz Sly, argues that recent events suggest that the Assad regime is not just surviving but has gone on the offensive. Drawing on local analysts, she finds that in the civil war, "there is little doubt that the pendulum is now swinging in favor of Assad … bolstered by a new strategy, the support of Iran and Russia and the assistance of fighters with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement." If this in fact be the case, then, Western governments should respond by helping the rebels to prevent Assad from crushing them. This advice is consistent with my argument (in an article titled "Support Assad" published just a month ago, when Assad appeared to be going down) that the West should prevent either side in the civil war from emerging victorious by "helping whichever side is losing, so as to prolong their conflict." This policy recommendation of "helping whichever side is losing" sounds odd, I admit, but it is strategic. (May 11, 2013) Related Topics:  Syria, US policy This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete and accurate information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.

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