[De Eric Zuesse] An October 24th article by Colin P. Clarke of the Rand Corporation — the main think-tank for the Pentagon — is headlined «The Moderate Face of Al Qaeda», and a section of it is headed «A Moderate Alternative,» presenting Al Qaeda as the moderate alternative to ISIS.[...]
U.S. policy in Syria during Barack Obama’s Presidency was to protect Al Qaeda there; and until 9 September 2016, Obama was steadfast in not allowing his second Secretary of State, John Kerry, to agree to his Russian counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s insistence that in order for any cease-fire and peace talks to start so as to end the U.S.-Saudi-Qatari-UAE-Kuwaiti-Turkish war against Syria, Syria’s ally Russia would be allowed to continue its bombing against both ISIS and Al Qaeda forces there. (off-guardian.org)