"It is clear what the US government wants," Giraldi said on Thursday. "They desperately need a ‘win’ in Syria to help [Democratic presumptive presidential candidate] Hillary Clinton in November and only Russia can help deliver that."
The US government has proposed a new agreement in Syria to Moscow to boost military cooperation between the two countries against some terrorists in exchange for Russia getting the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad to stop bombing US-supported rebels, the Washington Post reported also on Thursday.
However, Giraldi, a former CIA case officer and Army intelligence officer, dismissed the new initiative as an empty stunt devoid of any serious concessions.
"It is political theater," Giraldi stated of the US proposal.
The Obama administration realized its attempt to create a secular opposition military force to topple Assad had failed, and they now sought Russia’s help to prevent the Syrian Army from wiping out the last of these groups, Giraldi explained.
The US-backed New Syrian Army suffered a total defeat in its attempt to attack Islamic State positions at the strategic Syria-Iraq border crossing of Abu Kamar on Monday.
"I honestly believe that Putin would be willing to play along as he is genuinely disturbed at the Russia-bashing going on in the West and in Washington, DC in particular. Putin is the only adult in the room, I fear," Giraldi noted.
Philip Giraldi is executive director of the Council for the National Interest, a group that advocates more even-handed US government policies in the Middle East.
