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Must Assad Go or Could He Stay? Washington Confused Over Its Plan for Syria

© AP Photo / SANAIn this Sunday, July 26, 2015, file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivers a speech in Damascus, Syria.
In this Sunday, July 26, 2015, file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivers a speech in Damascus, Syria. - Sputnik International
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The Obama administration seems to have embraced the idea that the Syrians are the only ones fit to decide the future of their country through free and fair elections, but many American experts remain unconvinced.

Stephen Lendman, a syndicated columnist, activist and radio show host, believes that the real reason John Kerry went to Moscow last week was to convince (or pressure) Vladimir Putin to accept Washington's plan for Syria.

This plan involves making sure that Bashar al-Assad is not allowed to play any part in Syria's future by removing him from power before the peace process is launched. In Syria, "Washington wants a pro-Western puppet of its choosing, supported by likeminded legislators," the Chicago-based political analyst asserted.

In addition, the US also insists that moderate rebels do exist in Syria and cannot be targeted by any counterterrorism campaign in the country. As a result, "Washington won't agree to recognize certain indisputable terrorist groups, including [al-Nusra Front], an al-Qaeda affiliate, responsible for gruesome atrocities against civilians," he noted.

FILE - This Aug. 19, 2009 file photo shows Syrian President Bashar Assad during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, Iran - Sputnik International
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Should this be a correct assessment, one might conclude that "Kerry came to Moscow for another try at getting Putin to bend to America's will," as Lendman insisted in an opinion piece for Global Research.

Evidently, it was "a futile mission" since Russia is unlikely to change its stance on Syria. Moscow has long insisted that Syria's future is up to its people, and any groups which adopt radical ideology and use violence to promote their agenda should be considered terrorists.

James Henry Fetzer, retired professor in Madison, Wisconsin, believes that mutually exclusive assertions are "typical of American foreign policy." It follows then that Washington's stance on Syria is part of this trend.

"We had a series of inconsistent claims that 'Assad must go, ' 'Assad doesn't have to go,' 'The US is not after regime change.' It's absurd for the United States to suggest it's not after regime change yet Assad must go," Fetzer told Press TV.

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