During the last several weeks, Republican Sen. John McCain and others in Congress have lobbied for a more aggressive approach towards Syria. In fact, the Arizona senator has even called for airstrikes against Bashar Assad’s regime.
That’s not the right strategy, according to Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer. On Friday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, Krauthammer said that President Barack Obama’s less aggressive tack is the right one..
“I think Obama is right on this and McCain is wrong,” Krauthammer said. “I think this is not Libya. Libya is an oil well with a long beach and a primitive army. Syria has a serious air force, a serious army, and this would be a serious war.”
Krauthammer proposed reviving “the Reagan Doctrine,” a covert strategy of supporting insurgencies. Krauthammer first coined the term in 1985.
“I think what we should adopt is the Reagan Doctrine, the way he combated the expansion of Soviet influence in Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Angola. You support the insurgency. You don’t put Americans on the ground or in the air,” he said. “And why we aren’t arming and training and helping the insurgents in Turkey, you know, the ones who defected into Turkey out of Syria, I do not understand.”