Trump-Obama: The dichotomy of bad and worse

In varying degrees, almost everyone has contributed to the suffering of Syrian people and the tragedy of their country. There is not enough room here to enlist these direct or on direct “niceties”. The focus will be on some specific blows dealt to Syrians during Mr. Obama’s two terms as president, and a quick comparison with Mr. Trump’s first week in office as the “leader of the free world”.

Mr. Obama’s two secretaries of state never left an opportunity to remind the world that the US is the largest financial contributor to Syrian refugees without being used to the limit. We are not quite sure whether the US knows that 95% of those “donations” went to the host countries of the refugees and to UN workers, with Syrian refugees getting left-overs. As for taking in Syrian refugees, the Obama administration was the meanest in comparison with other countries like Germany or Canada.

As for Syrians’ safety and security, in addition to the Assad regime and Iran, the Obama administration has always played the role of the stumbling block in the face of creating safe or no-fly-zones in Syria.

When it comes to arming those who are defending themselves against the brutality of Assad and Iranian militias, Obama has insisted on denying the Free Syrian Army any proper means under the pretext that such weapons would fall in the hands of terrorists. And so far, we have not known who the terrorists are other than the so-called Daesh, because the US itself has befriended some of those labeled as terrorists at certain points in the conflict. What is more perplexing is the US ban imposed on any parties willing to arm Syrians to defend themselves. 

The Obama administration has watched Iran devastating Syria to keep the bloody Assad regime in power without objecting to the war crimes perpetrated against Syria and its people. Even when the Assad forces used chemical weapons against Syrians, the Obama administration created the proper nasty scenario to keep the criminal safe by punishing the weapon not the user. Part of the scenario was handing over the whole Syrian affair to Putin to finish what the Assad and Iran militias could not. It even gave Russia the chance to veto any proposal or resolution to put an end to the Syrian tragedy. All was to keep Assad in power; it was said that Assad has always been under the implicit protection of the American eye. Obama should be proud of such a human rights and human protection record in the history of a country that claims to be the land of the free.

Now, the difference between the Obama approach and Trump’s is apparent in the first week of the latter. Whether it is met or not, the time plans (30, 40, and 120 days) set by Trump is a new phenomenon that has been absent in the Obama years. The only time plan we remember is the frustrating 15-year plan to defeat Daesh set by Mr. Obama when the international alliance to fight Daesh was established.

Trump ordered his military to come up with a plan to defeat Daesh in 30 days. He also ordered his Defense and State departments to come up with a plan to create no-fly or safe zones in Syria in 90 days. It is true that it comes at a time when Trump says he would not allow Syrians to enter the US; but at least they would have a safe haven in their own country.

The most important aspect of Trump’s approach is that both Iran and Russia now think twice before they take any action to continue devastating the lives of 23 million Syrians to keep Assad in power under the pretext of fighting terrorism, when they are only fighting those who say NO to Assad.

However, it remains to be seen whether Trumps apparent seriousness is real enough to create that balance that could put an end to this unending Syrian tragedy.