US Ambassador to Ankara Tom Barrack admits to coups

US Ambassador to Ankara and Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack spoke to "The National" newspaper on the sidelines of a conference organized by the Milken Institute in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Assessing the situation in Iraq following the order established by the US after the 2003 invasion as "around 3 trillion in investment, a 20-year history full of disaster, several hundred thousand people who lost their lives," Barrack stated, "nothing is left."

Stating that a federal system was introduced in Iraq because groups in the north did not want to be part of a new state structure, Barrack said, "We did the same thing in Syria. So the SDF is a kind of YPG or PKK, let's let them deal with each other. Why? Because it looks easier and better. They can be autonomous. They can have their own culture, they can have their own languages, they can have their own schools, they can even have their own local armies. The problem is that this situation is Balkanizing, just like in Yugoslavia. We did the same thing there too. 'So we can't agree on a single federal model, let's divide it into seven.' This lasts about a nanosecond and they start fighting each other. That's what happened in Iraq," he said.

Arguing that the US is in the Middle East for "humanitarian interests and the search for balance," Barrack said, "However, we will not risk American lives for a formula that has not worked in the last hundred years."

Barrack stated that "Iraq is in chaos and Iran is fighting very hard for Iraq," adding, "If you remember, it was actually under Sunni control. So the Saddam Hussein scenario is no different from Libya. We did the same thing with Gaddafi and Libya. Let's divide it in two, let's implement federalism. This never worked," he assessed.

"I DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE GREATER ISRAEL CONSPIRACY"

Regarding relations with Israel, Barrack suggested that Syria is on the "right track" and expressed that it is in favor of cooperation. Barrack said, "They are fulfilling everything we ask them to do, including pushing them toward Israel."

On the other hand, stating that Israel "does not yet trust" Syria, Barrack noted that the process is moving slowly for this reason.

Expressing that US President Donald Trump's desire is to reach an agreement on normalization, starting with a Security and Border Agreement, Barrack said, "I think Israel wants this too. I do not believe in the Greater Israel conspiracy."

ANSWERED THE HEZBOLLAH QUESTION

To the question of why Israel did not finish off Hezbollah, Barrack gave the following answer: "Regime change has actually never worked. If you look at the period after 1946, there were about 93 coups or regime changes in every case where the US was involved. All of them failed. That is why (US Secretary of State Marco) Rubio and Trump are not in favor of regime change; they are in favor of regional solutions left to the region itself. So this problem is Israel's, not America's. Trump stepping in to stop the 12-day war was a historic situation and it was great. We have already seen 2 regime changes in Iran, neither of them worked. So why didn't Israel want to finish the job? I think the story is not over yet. You are currently in episode 5, there are 5 more episodes ahead of us."

News Source: 12punto