Ok...well let me ask a few dumb questions:
1. If Assad is deposed, will the ‘moderate rebels’ take control...or will Al Quaeda or ISIS take control.
2. What is our compelling national interest in deposing Assad - especially if the answer to question no. 1 is a ‘no’.
If I equate this to American politics - some people in the neverTrump crowd are advocating voting for Gary Johnson. IMHO, a vote for Gary Johnson is just as good as a vote for HRC. Similarly, supporting the ‘moderate rebels’ in deposing Assad is just as good as supporting Al Quaeda and ISIS. I just don’t understand why we are so hell bent on picking out a side...and by ‘picking a side’, I mean really parsing words and trying to differentiate a group that wears a white cowboy hat in this mess...when we know that, at the end of the day, no Assad = a terrorist run nation state.
There simply ARE no moderate rebels. Every single one is a sunni jihadi group. I defy anyone to show me a different group.
And Al Nusra who the Russians want us to bomb, is being supplied by the USA.