Obama f**ked the whole Syria thing up right from the beginning.
If we wanted to help install a pro Western Government in Syria we should have gotten behind them years ago and should have given them massive support so they could both win the war with Assad quickly and decisively and and also so they would end up strong enough and organized enough to win the peace after they won the war.
Instead our inaction has allowed the conflict to drag on and allow the foreign forces such as Salafist Radicals and Al Qaeda terrorists to come in and terrorize, destroy or co-opt all other legitimate competing opposition factions on the cheap.
Like it or not , it's either Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood or Assad and Iran who are going to control Syria going forward.
So we are dealing with really bad and worse.
Assad and Iran are worse in the short term but Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood may actually be worse in the long term.
I personally would like to see both sides wipe each other out.
I agree with your analysis and conclusion.
There is something that needs to be said about US influence and negotiating with a culture that is steeped in distrust.
Modern Liberals think they can reason with lairs, while they are unable to communicate based on facts.
They embrace the shades of grey, the relativism of uncertainty and at every turn, they try to force the uncertainty on US.