Gray Lady Reevalutes Rebels + War on Iran

The glaring turnaround of the Gray Lady's reporting on the Syrian civil war is on full display in today's story on recently slain Tawhid Brigade commander Abdulkader al-Saleh, "Death of Pragmatic Leader Further Muddles Syrian Rebellion." Gone are the days when every story written by Beirut bureau chief Anne Barnard ritualistically denounced the baleful Bashar al-Assad while at the same time it feted the rebels for their courageous commitment to liberation. This pattern continued long after the reality of the war refused to bare it out. The ragtag homespun brigades of the Free Syrian Army gave way to the Saudi- and Qatari-funded jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Al Nusra Front some time ago, definitely by the time the Syrian government retook Qusayr last June, but it has only been in the last few months that Gray Lady has seen fit to spotlight the dominant role of Sunni Islamic fundamentalists in Syria's civil war.

Today's assessment of the career of Abdulkader al-Saleh is an indictment of the drift of the opposition towards Al Qaeda but it also reads like the Gray Lady's mea culpa for not earlier calling her readers' attention to it:

But when [Abdulkader al-Saleh] died Thursday of wounds from an airstrike in Aleppo, he and Tawhid were months into a slow decline from the peak of their influence. The extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria had edged out Tawhid as the pace-setting group policing the northern province. And as that group’s foreign fighters stepped up kidnappings, public executions and attacks on Tawhid and its rebel allies, Mr. Saleh disappointed some of his comrades by remaining largely silent, trying to mediate the disputes rather than fighting to prevent the atrocities and infighting that have gutted the revolt from within. 

Mr. Saleh’s story, much like that of the movement for which he left his life as a seed trader and father of five, unfolded as one of optimism and possibility diverted by war’s disappointments and, it seemed, its moral exigencies and dark alliances. 

As foreign fighters and money from extremist Islamists poured into Syria, he seemed to decide that was the direction the war was going and to coast with it. He spoke often, in meetings over the past year with New York Times reporters who also spent time with Tawhid, of Syrian hospitality and a commitment to an open, pluralistic Syria. But he ultimately made accommodations with ISIS that, to some of his allies, were at best disappointing and at worst ugly.

Another story worth checking out today is "Split on Accord on Iran Strains U.S.-Israel Ties" by David Sanger and Jodi Rudoren. The takeaway is that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu wants war. Bibi is demanding a complete dismantling and confiscation of all Iranian nuclear-related infrastructure a la Libya in 2003. The Obama administration does not see this as a reasonable bargaining position, choosing instead to focus on Iran's "break out" ability, the capacity to actually produce a functioning nuclear weapon:

“The situation has changed and everybody else except Israel understands that a deal means to be more flexible,” said Giora Eiland, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “Netanyahu speaks only about a good deal. The Americans are speaking about a reasonable deal, which is better than having no deal at all.” 

For his part, Mr. Kerry has questioned publicly whether Mr. Netanyahu is aware of all the details in the agreement. And in some cases, Israeli officials appear to have distorted what Iran would get in return. 

At a briefing with international journalists on Wednesday, Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs, said the deal would directly erase $15 billion to $20 billion of what he estimated was the $100 billion the current sanctions are costing Iran annually, and lead to relief of up to $40 billion because of indirect effects. The State Department immediately debunked those numbers, noting the sanctions relief would be for only six months, not a year. And the Americans put the figure at under $10 billion. But Israeli leaders have continued to cite the higher estimates.

The Likudniks have ample support in Congress. Obama has very little if any mojo left as the Affordable Care Act debacle continues to unfold. The chance of him being able to pull off another eleventh hour deal like the one that avoided war with Syria seems highly unlikely. At home corporations are going after the tattered working class. In 2014 there will be a right-to-work initiative in Oregon. Boeing is looking to bust the Machinists. The plutocrats would love to deal a blow to the solidly progressive West Coast. To add another phony war in the Middle East to this mix would have consequences far beyond the understanding of our ruling elites.