Invoking The Dreaded “Moderate”

There are few words I’ve learned to dread more when following Middle East policy and terrorism issues more than the word “moderate.” Take for instance it’s appearance in this story by the Washington Times, “U.S. Training Syrian Moderates in Jordan: Officials“:

For months now, the United States has been training secular Syrian fighters in Jordan with the goal of bolstering the array of forces battling President Bashar Assad’s regime while at the same time strengthening the hand of moderates among the country’s fractured opposition, American and foreign officials said. They said the effort is ongoing.

The training has been taking place since late last year at an unspecified location, concentrating largely on Sunnis and tribal Bedouins who formerly served as members of the Syrian army, officials told The Associated Press. The forces aren’t members of the leading rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, they said. The U.S. and others fear the growing role of extremist militia groups in the rebel ranks, including some linked to al Qaeda.

Which sounds good, until one remembers that to the Obama Administration, “moderate” and “secular” almost never seem to mean what one might expect them to mean.  All too often, “moderate” simply means any Islamist who doesn’t have direct ties to Al Qaeda…yet.

This includes members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which currently dominates the Syrian political opposition, now headed by Ghassan Hitto, a member of multiple MB front groups, although better known to the mainstream media euphemistically as “a Texas resident.”

Its easy to forget that among one-time “moderates” are included such luminaries as Abdurahman  Al-Amoudi (former leader of major MB front group the American Muslim Council, and imprisoned Al Qaeda financier), and Anwar Al-Awlaki (once celebrated “moderate” imam of Dar al-Hijrah mosque, whose board members consist of the leadership of multiple Muslim Brotherhood fronts, until he became the spiritual leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.)

One could perhaps debate the value of arming and training actual Syrian nationalists and secular democrats (at whatever levels they may or may not be found to exist) as a counterbalance to Islamists and Bashar Assad’s Iranian-aligned Baathist regime. But given the deluded view of the Obama Administration and America’s intelligence community, it’s impossible to have any confidence they can successfully identify such individuals even if they want to.  And there’s little evidence they want to.