In the war against the Islamic State, US Members of Congress have praised despots in the Middle East for their willingness to engage with the extremist group, despite said leaders’ undemocratic and often brutal domestic policies. But they’ve been reluctant to endorse an alliance with Syria’s President Bashar al Assad, who the administration wants to fight simultaneously.
But one lawmaker bucked that trend on Thursday. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), on CSPAN’s Washington Journal, urged President Obama to work with the Syrian president to defeat IS.
“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be trying to enlist Assad,” Rohrabacher said, prefacing his comments with, “this is more controversial.”
“He has an army, he has an air force. If we go in to try to help Assad, or try to enlist him…his army is never going to join forces with the radicals to attack western interests there,” he added.
When challenged if Assad–who violently suppressed peaceful protests and indiscriminately attacked civilian areas–is a “legitimate leader” and a “rational actor,” Rohrabacher pressed on.
“He has power, he has an army,” the lawmaker said. “During World War 2 we helped Joseph Stalin for Pete’s sake!”
Rohrabacher previously urged a reassessment of relations with Assad, saying in a press statement last year that Assad’s “interests now lie more with the West than with any grotesque IS agenda.”
The official position of the Obama administration since the beginning of the Syrian civil war—a conflict that has now claimed the lives of over 300,000 people – is that Assad must step down as a prerequisite to any peace deal. Critics of that policy have said that it has fueled the brutal fighting.
Ongoing US military operations against the Islamic State in Syria have been carried out without any coordination with the Assad government, though the administration confirmed again this week that American officials did notify the Syrian government that bombing would commence.
The Pentagon has initiated plans to train as many as 15,000 “moderate” Syrian rebels to deploy them to fight both the Islamic State and the Assad regime.
Earlier in his CSPAN appearance, Rep. Rohrabacher gave praise to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, another undemocratic Arab leader who has thrown political opponents in prison, killed peaceful protestors in the streets, and jailed and beaten journalists.
“Our President has only been giving half-hearted support to the non-fanatics in Egypt,” Rohrabacher said, alleging that the administration has failed to provide Egypt with “spare parts for helicopters at a time when we know Egypt is just teetering on going down the radical route.”
Despite seizing power in a military coup–an action, if officially recognized by the US government, that would legally bar Sisi from receiving military aid–the US has left the spigot open, and has provided Sisi’s junta with assistance, including a gift last April of Apache helicopters.
At the end of last year, Congress passed a funding bill that provided Egypt with $1.3 billion in economic and military aid contingent upon the country making democratic reforms. The law gives the Secretary of State John Kerry the authority to release the aid without the reforms should he deem it to be within the “national security” interests of the nation.
As The Sentinel has previously reported, Egypt’s president has received high marks from lawmakers on the House floor who are either unaware of or indifferent to the human rights violations carried out by the military leader.
