In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a written statement that “The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way.” Obama claimed that “For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”

Washington’s policy is to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It has been a goal of both the Democrats and Republicans. Israel wants Assad removed from power because of its close ties to Hezbollah and Iran.  Israel’s former Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren once said “We always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran” in an interview published by Reuters back in 2013. Remember In 2007 when Former U.S. Army General Wesley Clark told Amy Goodman of Democracy Now:

This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.” And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, “You remember that?” He said, “Sir, I didn’t show you that memo! I didn’t show it to you!”

Washington is committed to remove Assad. He is allied with all of Washington’s adversaries including Hezbollah, Iran and Russia. The Associated Press (AP) reported that “President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to authorize military action against terrorists who are cutting a swath across the Middle East.” Obama says that he will not commit U.S. ground forces to a long-term war “I’m convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war.” It will mark the first war-powers vote in 13 years for congress which will pass with a Republican majority. Warmongers in Washington including Senator John McCain (who idolizes War criminal Henry Kissinger) will surely vote “Yes” for any military action in Syria. “Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also said Obama had ruled out air support for U.S.-trained rebels battling Syrian President Bashar Assad, adding, “That’s immoral.”

Now the main part of the AP story details Obama’s plan:

Under Obama’s proposal, the use of military force against Islamic State fighters would be authorized for three years, unbounded by national borders. The fight could be extended to any “closely related successor entity” to the Islamic State organization that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria, imposed a stern form of Sharia law and killed several hostages it has taken, Americans among them.

The Islamic State (ISIS) is apparently the target according to the Obama administration but it is laying down the“ground work” to eventually assist the Syrian rebels in removing the Assad government. The AP report also explained how Obama revisited past authorizations in 2001 and 2002 leading up to the invasion of Iraq:

In the past, Obama has cited congressional authorizations from 2001 and 2002 to justify his decision to deploy more than 2,700 U.S. troops to train and assist Iraqi security forces and conduct airstrikes against targets in Iraq and Syria.

The Syrian government has been battling the Syrian rebels, al-Nusra and ISIS since the civil war began in 2011. Now Syria is fragmented and ISIS is gaining ground in many areas in Iraq and Syria. The Obama administration sees an opportunity to escalate the war. This is Obama’s last 2 years in office so prepare for more Middle East wars in the months to come.