Aleppo tragedy a disaster for U.S. prestige

It’s not too late to exercise American power and send clear message to Putin and Assad

EDITOR’S NOTE: This opinion column previously appeared on the Cipher Brief at www.thecipherbrief.com

The “complete meltdown of humanity” in Aleppo, as recently described by the United Nations, is an indictment of Russian/Syrian/Iranian barbarism, Arab indifference, and American dereliction and policy failure in the Levant. The horrendous human tragedy, which is barely causing a yawn in the West — and across the Arab world as well — will always cast a shadow on the legacy of President Barack Obama.

The president’s failure to face down the Russians, the Iranians, and the Syrian tyrant, long before Aleppo started to burn and empty of its inhabitants, belies his constant touting of American values and empathy with human suffering.

As the Syrian barrel bombs and the Russian barbaric indiscriminate bombing turn Aleppo into rubble, and as its inhabitants are being slaughtered, the world is awestruck by this administration’s seemingly detached indifference and convoluted war-avoidance logic. America’s failed leadership has emboldened Russia, not only to bomb Aleppo into smithereens but to wage an unprecedented cyber attack on the U.S. electoral system — America’s most precious constitutional guarantee.

Let’s be very clear: Criticizing Obama’s lack of decisive action against the dictator of Damascus cannot possibly absolve Russian President Vladimir Putin’s shameful and bloodthirsty approach to Aleppo and the Syrian people. Putin has no shame and doesn’t truly care what the world thinks of his vicious attacks on innocent civilians or whether he is charged with war crimes.

President Obama has argued that avoiding a military confrontation with the Russians drove his inaction in Syria, and that his desire not to politicize U.S. intelligence underlay his refusal to publicize the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails before the election.

That could have worked if Putin responded in kind. Sadly for Obama, Clinton lost the election, and Putin is winning the Syrian war. More importantly, the helpless people of Aleppo paid the price for these political machinations with their lives. How did this happen? For the record, I had previously criticized former President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq and his advocacy of regime change in that war-torn country. On the eve of the invasion in March 2003, I briefed that externally driven, violent regime change in Iraq, without deep knowledge of the social, political, historical, demographic and sectarian dynamics of Iraq and the Gulf region, would lead to disaster.

In fact, in his book, “At the Center of the Storm,” former CIA Director George Tenet referred to a paper that was briefed to senior policymakers in which analysts argued that forcing regime change in Iraq in a war that was not well thoughtout in advance would create a “perfect storm” of instability, sectarianism and unending internal conflict.

Obama inherited the mess in Iraq and vowed to extricate America from that “unnecessary” war and promised not to engage in similar wars in the region. His reticence to engage in large-scale military operations in the region was perhaps the fundamental reason why he allowed the situation in Syria to deteriorate so horribly. It’s now painfully clear that such inaction has contributed to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s barbarity and Russia’s and Iran’s destruction of Aleppo.

These three criminal actors viewed Obama’s deliberate hesitancy to act as a sign of weakness and abandonment of American principles and a marginalization of American influence in Syria. Consequently, they waged their bloody attacks on Aleppo’s civilians without concern or accountability and in defiance of all international legal norms.

Excluding Secretary of State John Kerry from the recent meeting of Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers in Moscow to discuss the future of Syria once more underscores their perception of America’s diminishing regional role. The Trump administration must view this development not as a game but as a serious threat to America’s strategic interests in the region and beyond. Where do we go from here? Some would maintain that whatever the president did or did not do in 2012 is water under the bridge, and it’s too late to do anything about it now. That’s a false argument. The United States retains the ability to exercise its preponderant power — soft and hard — in many ways that could send a clear message to Assad and his Russian masters.

First, the Obama administration should make it abundantly and publicly clear to Putin that he cannot revenge his ambassador’s murder in Turkey by waging an even more vicious bombing campaign against Aleppo and other opposition-held towns and localities in Syria. The United States should place its air assets in the Mediterranean, Turkey, Jordan, and elsewhere near Syria and should be prepared to fly its fighter jets in Syrian airspace. It’s not too late to declare a no-fly zone over Syria and proceed to enforce it.

Second, the United States and its allies should embark on a multinational rescue operation inside Syria, protected by American military might, to rescue the trapped inhabitants of Aleppo and other towns and cities, and to provide them with food, clothing and shelter. They must be protected from Syrian and Russian butchery.

Third, the Obama administration should put in place, in conjunction with the U.N. Security Council, or with the U.N. General Assembly backing if Russia blocks Security Council action, a regional/international military operation to bring about the end of the Assad regime and the defeat of the Islamic State in Raqqa and other places in Syria. The non-ISIS opposition should be included in this effort. This operation should also include preparing for a post-Assad regime in Syria.

Putin and his little protégé in Damascus cannot possibly be appeased if the United States hopes to maintain a credible presence and influence in the region and retain the ability to defend its interests and personnel across the Middle East. Bullying should not be allowed to stand, whether in local school yards or in Syria. Bullies, whether a middle school kid, a Syrian dictator, or a Russian plutocrat, must be held accountable for their actions. The people of Aleppo deserve no less.