Still a Bad Idea:

Britain to Resume Training Syrian 'Rebels'

Rasa - It is said falsehood, in the long run, defeats itself. For the British government, however, wishful thinking is the last thing it does in Syria before it is defeated yet again.

News ID: 424682

Date: 30 October 2016 - 22:19

RNA - The armchair warriors in Downing Street are yet to accept defeat as a signal that their regime-change plans are not sound, and that by rebuilding those plans and setting sail once more toward their unholy goal they cannot obtain victory. Being challenged is inevitable, and being defeated is not optional:

Only 12 months after a similar plan was suspended, British troops will resume training what their government calls “moderate Syrian rebels” fighting ISIL. A year after the costly US-led program collapsed having trained almost no one, around 20 British personnel will join the revived mission to teach basic infantry drills, battlefield medicine and skills to avoid mines and booby-traps.

It is understood the troops will work at bases in Turkey and Jordan. American commanders have asked Britain to re-join their Train and Equip Program, which folded in October 2015. On that note, all that matters should be this:

- London and Washington have no legal basis for training rebels and waging war on Syria. Syria hasn't attacked, nor does it pose an imminent threat to Britain and the US. There is no UN resolution that can be stretched to provide even the flimsiest cover for training rebels and armed intervention. Their justification flies in the face of international protocols.

- Washington abandoned its Syria strategy after it emerged the program to deliver more than 15,000 fighters against ISIL had produced only a handful. The small number it trained were quickly overrun by extremist forces, gave up their weapons, and joined ISIL and Al-Qaeda.

- British and US commanders are free to try but they will never find “moderate” rebels who could pass stringent security vetting, spend time training away from the battlefield, or agree to fight ISIL. They are unable to explain how the rebels are vetted, or what constitutes a "moderate" rebel, other than to say that the recruits must have no links to terror organisations.

- Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has defended the deployment, saying it will put further pressure on ISIL. This is rubbish. The previous CIA-trained rebels only helped spread the violence and put further pressure on the Syrian government and its allies who are at the forefront of the battle against terrorist groups.

- Neither the British nor the American interventionists seem aware of the deep divide they have caused in the Muslim world by dividing terrorists into extremists and moderates in Syria. They seem unconcerned that there is no legal justification for intervention and no military solution to the crisis.

The horrors in Syria cannot be ignored, however. If the previous program is any indication, the new training mission is a bad idea, indeed a step towards a full-scale, decades-long intervention in that tormented country. Syria is awash in arms and terrorists, and there is no way to ensure that the new ones would not wind up in the hands of ISIL and Al-Qaeda. Many more civilians will be killed and the refugee crisis will continue with no end in sight.

Given the terrible costs of the British-American strategy, the armchair warriors in London and Washington are advised not to rush into yet another disastrous mission in the conflict. The lessons of the previous program are particularly relevant. Falsehood, in the long run, defeats itself.

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