Serious question here, who knows anything about the leaders of the moderate Syrian opposition the United States is arming?
I have noticed that television coverage does not mention the names or political philosophies of the Free Syrian Army or other "moderate" rebel groups. The political organization of this moderate faction still seems quite fractured. Most articles that discuss this in the American press seem to pass over these details and focus on bombing campaigns, boots on the ground, and other martial matters.
Occasionally, additional names like Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir, Jamal Maarouf, or Abdul Jabber al-Oqaidi sneak into an online article such as this one from NBC News. The descriptions of these personalities is often vague--from that article, we know Mr. Maarouf has street cred with non-extremists, and al-Bashir is a moderate Islamist while al-Oqaidi is apparently very aggressive. CBS News introduces us to Hadi al-Bahra as the president of the Opposition Coalition. However, what does a Syria run by Maarouf, al-Bashir, al-Oqaidi, or al-Bahra look like? How does a military general with moderately Islamist policies run a country differently than Assad? Are there any bin Ladens in this group who are going to turn around and attack us once they get what they want in their homeland?
I jest a bit at the American TV media here, thankfully wiki has a more exhaustive list of the organizations and actors involved, derived from multiple sources. But there is a still a gap of understanding regarding which of these groups are getting weapons, who ultimately becomes the leader of a new Syria, and how these diverse organizations approach policy in a theoretical post-Assad, post-ISIS Syria.
So I open this RD thread as a long-term project to collect and share information specifically on the leaders of the so-called Syrian moderate opposition. News articles, thoughts, videos, whatever. We have other threads to discuss the war, ISIS, and that Assad fellow, so let's keep talk about those subjects to a minimum unless it is relevant to the moderates.
I have noticed that television coverage does not mention the names or political philosophies of the Free Syrian Army or other "moderate" rebel groups. The political organization of this moderate faction still seems quite fractured. Most articles that discuss this in the American press seem to pass over these details and focus on bombing campaigns, boots on the ground, and other martial matters.
Occasionally, additional names like Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir, Jamal Maarouf, or Abdul Jabber al-Oqaidi sneak into an online article such as this one from NBC News. The descriptions of these personalities is often vague--from that article, we know Mr. Maarouf has street cred with non-extremists, and al-Bashir is a moderate Islamist while al-Oqaidi is apparently very aggressive. CBS News introduces us to Hadi al-Bahra as the president of the Opposition Coalition. However, what does a Syria run by Maarouf, al-Bashir, al-Oqaidi, or al-Bahra look like? How does a military general with moderately Islamist policies run a country differently than Assad? Are there any bin Ladens in this group who are going to turn around and attack us once they get what they want in their homeland?
I jest a bit at the American TV media here, thankfully wiki has a more exhaustive list of the organizations and actors involved, derived from multiple sources. But there is a still a gap of understanding regarding which of these groups are getting weapons, who ultimately becomes the leader of a new Syria, and how these diverse organizations approach policy in a theoretical post-Assad, post-ISIS Syria.
So I open this RD thread as a long-term project to collect and share information specifically on the leaders of the so-called Syrian moderate opposition. News articles, thoughts, videos, whatever. We have other threads to discuss the war, ISIS, and that Assad fellow, so let's keep talk about those subjects to a minimum unless it is relevant to the moderates.
