Posted on 09/01/2015 6:33:00 AM PDT by maggief
To take down the so-called Islamic State in Syria, the influential former head of the CIA wants to co-opt jihadists from America’s arch foe. Members of al Qaeda’s branch in Syria have a surprising advocate in the corridors of American power: retired Army general and former CIA Director David Petraeus.
The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been quietly urging U.S. officials to consider using so-called moderate members of al Qaeda’s Nusra Front to fight ISIS in Syria, four sources familiar with the conversations, including one person who spoke to Petraeus directly, told The Daily Beast.
The heart of the idea stems from Petraeus’s experience in Iraq in 2007, when as part of a broader strategy to defeat an Islamist insurgency the U.S. persuaded Sunni militias to stop fighting with al Qaeda and to work with the American military.
The tactic worked, at least temporarily. But al Qaeda in Iraq was later reborn as ISIS, and has become the sworn enemy of its parent organization. Now, Petraeus is returning to his old play, advocating a strategy of co-opting rank-and-file members of al Nusra, particularly those who don’t necessarily share all of core al Qaeda’s Islamist philosophy.
However, Petraeus’s play, if executed, could be enormously controversial. The American war on terror began with an al Qaeda attack on 9/11, of course. The idea that the U.S. would, 14 years later, work with elements of al Qaeda’s Syrian branch was an irony too tough to stomach for most U.S. officials interviewed by The Daily Beast. They found Petraeus’s notion politically toxic, near-impossible to execute, and strategically risky.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
And why would Al Qaeda NOT TEAM UP with ISIS?
Yeah I can see al Queda going over to fight ISIS and the commanders stopping for a second and sayin,”Hey I know you! How’s it goin’ buddy? Long time no see” then joining forces to fight America.
Yeah I’m not buying it eiher. They must think we’re as stupid as their own kind
Yeah, great idea. What could possibly go wrong? ;-/
thats not happening because obama is teaming up with ISIS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kG9j5Io6yw
Sorta like the Irish charge at Falkirik in “Braveheart”.
ISIS is Al Qaeda.
They are the same damn thing. Sign. What’s wrong with people like Petraeus?
Correct.
Maybe Petraeus should email his idea to Hillary.
No wonder USA is going down.
Peanuts Carter wanted to arm radical Moehammedans in Afghanistan.
McCain and Bob dole wanted to arm Mooslims in Bosnia, while Slick was providing air cover.
We rush in to save Kuwait from Islamic invasion.
A few years after 9/11 Voters elect a Moehammedan president to show the world how tolerant and inclusive the USA is... and this guy supports Mooslum Brotherhood takeovers of other Mooselum countries.
Sometimes the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy.
It’s a really bad idea. So we’ll probably end up doing it.
Actually, wasnt that "Ron Old Ray-gun" who did that?
Maybe the libs were right when they called him “General Betray Us”?
Sadly, and he left our Marines exposed at the Beirut International Airport (The Beirut Barracks Bombing October 23, 1983 Lebanon).
Whatever terrorist organization we train and arm to do battle in our name will soon turn the training and arms against us and our friends - and that us a proven fact!!
For a genius general, this guy is stupid.
Al Qaeda is mostly Sunni, as is ISIS. If Al Qaeda got enough leverage, they’d use it to join forces with ISIS on decent terms. They certainly wouldn’t use it against ISIS.
Stupid.
Their disagreement is hierarchial and not ideological.
It’d be like openly enlisting Elizabeth Warren supporters to take down Bernie Sanders.
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