Is Bashar al-Assad as bad as the U.S. says he is? Why take him out?

The USA was quite ready to work with Assad when he was seen as useful.  As was also the case with Saddam in Iraq, Gaddafi in Libya and the original Islamic extremists during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

After the end of the Cold War, the USA thought it could reshape the world, starting with the Arab World.  They also wanted to get Arab regimes that would tolerate Israel's continuing expansion on the West Bank.  This meant either creating a friendly regime or else creating chaos in which Arabs would be fighting each other.

It has obviously not worked.  The horrible Friday 13th attacks in Paris are part of a fairly predictable reaction from Arabs and Muslims to chaos that was basically started by the West.

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Gwydion Madawc Williams on Quora:

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