GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Trump's Road to Damascus and a Chance for Conversion

Charles Glass

Board of Contributors

Jun 20, 2018 | 08:00 GMT

Syrians gather in Zardana (Idlib province) after airstrikes, believed to have been launched by Russia, killed about 40 civilians in early June.

Syrians gather amidst destruction in Zardana, in the mostly rebel-held northern Syrian Idlib province, in the aftermath of airstrikes on June 8, 2018. The strikes, believed to have been carried out by Russia, killed 38 civilians including four children, a Britain-based monitor said.

(OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump's administration inherited the Syria mess when it entered the White House on Jan. 20, 2017. Its policy was anyone's guess, reminding me of an old joke about an Irish farmer telling a tourist who asked for directions to Dublin, "Well, I wouldn't be going there from here." It is unclear how far Trump and his new foreign policy team, national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, will commit the country's money, armed forces and intelligence services to Syria. They could, if they dared, learn from the mistakes of Obama's policies to avoid prolonging the war and deepening the United States' involvement in it....

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