It's not quite as clear cut as that. What exactly do you mean by "stopping Assad"? Deposing him? then who is going to fill the power vacuum? The jihadis who deposed him, despite the fact that half the country will resent what they did to Assad? Long term thinking is essential.
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That line of thinking could also be used by Assad to justify his crimes.
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The UN could have aided with humanitarian intervention to mitigate Assad's excesses. But this would have required a majority vote by the UNSC, which itself would have required a strong moral case.
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Again, incorrect. Security Council Resolutions 1483 (2003), 1511 (2003) and 1546 (2004) make regime change a possibility if a good moral case can be made.
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Incorrect. If the West hadn't resorted to using jihadis, it could have built up a much stronger moral case against Assad, potentially mobilising a popular democratic movement against him, consisting of civilians, SNC, moderate FSA elements, possibly the DFNS, backed up by UN/NATO
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I was under the impression that the west had provided significant support for the FSA a few years ago
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Actually, no. If we had moved EARLY--like right as it became clear Assad was NOT going to accept the 'Arab Spring' verdict of his people--it would still have been pretty clean. Problem was, Obama administration AND American people were tired of GWOT price in blood & treasure. 1/
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By the time the real, large-scale atrocities--beyond just being a brutal dick(tator)--kicked in, though, you're right. We tried to find (even CREATE) such a group, but at that point it was too late & became a spectacular, embarrassing, and expensive failure. 2/2
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Pakistan has had a similar mentality. You can't train the snakes in your garden to bite only the neighbour's kids
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