Infinite_limit
09-26-2014, 10:45 AM
The U.S. Has Bombed Two Different Sides in Syria's Civil War
It's unusual, but not unprecedented, for the United States to attack opposing sides of a fractured civil war, says Stephen Biddle, an adjunct senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. During the 2003 Iraq War, the U.S. was at one point fighting both al-Qaeda in Iraq and more secular Sunni militants, who were opposed to each other, as well as the Shiite Mahdi Army, which fought the other two. There are other instances in which the U.S. has indirectly helped two opposing sides in a conflict—for example, by paying protection money to Taliban affiliates to keep trucking routes open while supporting Afghan security forces in their fight against the Taliban.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/the-us-has-bombed-multiple-sides-in-syrias-civil-war/380660/
It's unusual, but not unprecedented, for the United States to attack opposing sides of a fractured civil war, says Stephen Biddle, an adjunct senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. During the 2003 Iraq War, the U.S. was at one point fighting both al-Qaeda in Iraq and more secular Sunni militants, who were opposed to each other, as well as the Shiite Mahdi Army, which fought the other two. There are other instances in which the U.S. has indirectly helped two opposing sides in a conflict—for example, by paying protection money to Taliban affiliates to keep trucking routes open while supporting Afghan security forces in their fight against the Taliban.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/the-us-has-bombed-multiple-sides-in-syrias-civil-war/380660/