Obama: Sending US troops to Syria would be a 39mistake39

11/17/2015 7:11:09 AM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Sending U.S. troops to fight Daesh in Syria would be a mistakeU.S. President Barack Obama said Monday.

"That would be a mistake not because our military could not march into Mosul [in Iraq] or Raqqa [in Syria…] and temporarily clear out ISIL [Daesh] but because we would see a repetition of what we've seen before which is if you do not have local populations that are committed to inclusive governance and who are pushing back against ideological extremes that they resurface unless we're prepared to have a permanent occupation of these countries" Obama tolda press conference at the G20 summit held in the southern Turkish province of Antalya.

Obama said it was important to pursue a strategy that can be "sustained" like the one that is currently being followed.

"And let's assume that we were to send 50000 troops into Syria what happens when there's a terrorist attack generated from Yemen? Do we then send more troops into there? Or Libya perhaps? Or if there's a terrorist network that's operating anywhere else in North Africa or in Southeast Asia?"he asked.

"Given the fact that there are enormous sacrifices involved in any military action it's best that we don't you know shoot first and aim later. It's important for us to get the strategy right and the strategy that we are pursuing is the right one" he said.

- Daesh not a 'traditional'enemy

The U.S. president noted that Daesh was not "a traditional military opponent".

Occupying territory in Syria would not "solve the underlying problem of eliminating the dynamics that are producing these kinds of violent extremist groups".

- 'Modest progress on the diplomatic front'

Obama said the recent Vienna talks over Syria was significant.

"We've begun to see some modest progress on the diplomatic frontwhich is critical because a political solution is the only way to end the war in Syria and unite the Syrian people and the world against ISIL" he said.

In weekend talks in Vienna on the resolution of Syria’s four-and-a-half year civil war regional and world powers the UN the EU and the Arab League agreed on aUN-mediated cease-fire in Syria with negotiations between the regime and opposition groups to take place by the end of the year.

Elections would be held within 18 months of a six-month transition period.

Obama was quick to note thatthere werestill disagreements between the parties including most critically over the fate of President Bashar al-Assad who he said had no role in Syria's future "because of his brutal rule" adding his war against the Syrian people wasthe primary root cause of this crisis.

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