Haley, Tillerson Contradict Each Other On Issue Of Regime Change In Syria

Just days after the United States launched cruise missiles at a military airfield in Syria, it appears that two of the Trump administration’s top diplomats have absolutely no idea whether or not Syrian president Bashar Assad should remain in power.

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, told host Jake Tapper that getting rid of Assad was a top priority for the United States:

“This is a complicated situation. There are no easy answers and a political solution is going to have to happen. There’s not any sort of option where political solution is going to happen with Assad at the head of the regime, if you look at his actions if you look at the situation, it’s going to be hard to see a government that’s peaceful and stable with Assad.”

Tapper then asked if that meant the United States might be pushing for regime change in Syria. Haley replied:

“Regime change is something that we think is going to happen because all of the parties are going to see that Assad is not the leader that needs to be taking place for Syria.”

But on Face the Nation, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seemed to contradict Haley, telling host John Dickerson that Assad wasn’t the top priority in the region:

“It’s important that we keep our priorities straight. And we believe that the first priority is the defeat of ISIS. That by defeating ISIS and removing their caliphate from their control, we’ve now eliminated at least or minimized a particular threat not just to the United States, but to the whole stability in the region.”

Tillerson added that he believes a political solution can be found in Syria, despite evidence to the contrary:

“We’re hopeful that we can prevent a continuation of the civil war and that we can bring the parties to the table to begin the process of political discussions.

“If we can achieve ceasefires in zones of stabilization in Syria, then I believe– we hope we will have the conditions to begin a useful political process.”

In other words, if we can turn a shit storm into a utopia, the problem will be solved.

Does anyone in this administration have a damn clue about anything, or are they just making it up as they go along?

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org

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