After today’s events in Syria, US credibility as a major player in the global war on terrorism — Islamic terrorism to be precise — is destroyed. Despite spending ten years on the US list of bad terrorists and earning a $10 million bounty on his head, Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani welcomed a US delegation, led by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, to Damascus.

She was accompanied by former U.S. envoy to Syria Daniel Rubinstein who will stay in Syria as the top U.S. diplomat on the ground.

Leaf greeted Jawlani with the news that the US was lifting the $10 million bounty as long as Jawlani pinky-swore “to not allow terrorist organizations to operate within Syrian territory or pose threats to the US or neighboring countries.”

What a difference two years makes! I guess the US policy to, “defeat ISIS,” is no longer in effect.

Larry Johnson

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