Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (Reuters)
The General's Gambit -- Michael R. Gordon and Wesley S. Morgan, Foreign Policy
Petraeus tried to warn Assad about the foreign fighters in Iraq. Now they're coming for him.
On Jan. 8, 2008, Gen. David Petraeus's face was beamed onto a screen in the White House for a videoconference with President George W. Bush. The Iraq surge was beginning to wind down, and the general had an unusual proposal for the commander in chief.
"I've received three messages from Bashar al-Assad via Iraqi ministers stating that he'd like to meet," Petraeus told the president, according to a classified script for the presentation. "Stan McChrystal and I still want to go to Damascus to talk AQI only with Bashar al-Assad and solicit his help in stemming the flow of foreign fighters and taking on known AQ personalities who work in Syria."
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My Comment: Even if Petraeus was able to make this trip to Syria in 2008, I doubt that he would have been able to convince Assad on how dangerous it was for him and the stability of his government if he continued to support Al Qaeda and other Sunni extremist groups. Dictators tend to believe they are immune to danger and to any possibility of blow-back because of their actions, a mindset that Bashar al-Assad has clearly demonstrated in the past year.
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