As Russian forces intervene in Syria, the White House is warning Russian President Vladimir Putin against making the same mistakes made by George W. Bush in Iraq.
During the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the problems in Syria are political, and required a political solution, not a military one.
“They’ll be no more successful in that regard than the United States was in imposing a military solution in Iraq in the last decade, and certainly no more successful than Russian efforts to pose a military solution in Afghanistan three decades ago,” he said.
Earnest asserted that the White House wasn’t surprised that Russia began military strikes in Syria, just hours after Putin wrapped up his meeting with President Obama in New York.
“President Putin and the Russians have been trying to prop up Assad for a long time and the fact that they are now having to ramp up that support is an indication that their previous efforts to prop him up weren’t very successful,” he said.
He also stated on multiple occasions that both the United States and Russia had begun the process of communicating with the Russians to “deconflict” any military actions in the region.
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