Israel & Saudi Arabia. It's a fact that U.S. arms sold to Saudi Arabia & the UAE have made their way to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in the region. We have directly & indirectly made it possible for those groups to wreak havoc in Syria.

With all the talk about "Iranian militias" (and they exist and are brutal) - there's no talk of Saudi militias or Israeli-back militias - which is a dishonest framing of the situation in Syria (and elsewhere) making it seem like Iran is the only problematic actor (when one could very easily make the argument that both Saudi Arabia and Israel are equally responsible - if not more responsible for the bloodshed).

But I think Mehdi Hasan said it best:

"What unites Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton, Samantha Power, Nancy Pelosi, David Petraeus, Tom Friedman, and the editorial board of the Washington Post?

Answer: Their support for arming what they called “moderate” Syrian rebel groups.

Yes, the brutal Assad is responsible for the bulk of the violence in Syria — as are the governments of Iran and Russia that armed and backed him. But those responsible for arming and backing some of Syria’s most thuggish rebel groups include — among many others — the government of the United States. Some of us warned that the U.S. providing money and weapons to such rebels would backfire. We were smeared as genocide apologists, Assad stooges, Iran supporters. And yet what we are seeing on the ground in northeastern Syria today is a classic — and depressing — case of what the CIA has called “blowback.”

The former allies of the United States in Syria have turned on the current allies of the United States in Syria. And no one seems to want to admit this — or take any responsibility for it."


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