"Mistakes Were Made"

"Mistakes were made" in Libya. Yeah, no shit, Mr. President. Go all in, or not at all.

An excerpt from, "Obama: ‘Mistakes’ Made in NATO War on Libya, US Should’ve Done Even More" by Jason Ditz, AntiWar.com, September 28, 2015:

"Speaking today at the UN General Assembly, President Obama took a surprisingly contrite stance, however briefly, on the NATO war against Libya, conceding that “mistakes were made” in a war that led to the current state, with much of Libya ungoverned and multiple competing city-based governments vying for control.

 Not that Obama regrets the war. Rather, he insists that the US and NATO should’ve “done more” to ensure that the pro-NATO government propped up after the ouster of Gadhafi was able to survive. In short, his regret on a disastrous war is that he didn’t double down on it."

An excerpt from, "Why Obama and Putin are Both Wrong on Syria" by Juan Cole, September 29, 2015:

Obama blamed al-Assad for the rise of Daesh, omitting mention of American responsibility via the destruction of Iraq.

How hopeless the situation is in Syria is clear from the speech of Vladimir Putin

Putin complained that the problems in Syria come from US and its allies back so-called moderate rebels, who the moment they can run off to join Daesh: “And now, the ranks of radicals are being joined by the members of the so-called moderate Syrian opposition supported by the Western countries. First, they are armed and trained and then they defect to the so-called Islamic State.”

Putin then went in for some conspiracy thinking, blaming the US and the West for creating Daesh (they did not) to overthrow secular regimes (which they don’t want to do). “Besides, the Islamic State itself did not just come from nowhere. It was also initially forged as a tool against undesirable secular regimes.”

Putin’s own fears about the possible spread of Daesh to Russian provinces such as Chechniya is palpable: “Having established a foothold in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State has begun actively expanding to other regions. It is seeking dominance in the Islamic world. And not only there, and its plans go further than that. The situation is more than dangerous.”