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Source: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-22/assad-is-reaching-out-to-washington-insiders
U.S. Administration Weighs Assad's Fate in Syria
(Bloomberg) Josh Rogin - Last week, the U.S. endorsed a UN Security Council resolution that would establish an 18-month transition process during which Assad could stay as Syria's president and even run for elections sometime in 2017. Yet President Obama said he has been telling Russian President Putin since the beginning of the war that the Syrian people would not accept Assad's continued rule. There have been at least two camps inside the top levels of the Obama administration who vigorously disagree on the goals of U.S. Syria policy. Steven Simon, who served as the National Security Council senior director for Middle Eastern and North African affairs from 2011 to 2012, along with his two successors, Philip Gordon and now Robert Malley, have argued that the U.S. should make the fight against the Islamic State its first priority and delay the drive to oust Assad. The fear is that pushing Assad out too soon would create a power vacuum that the terrorists would fill, gaining territory. The other camp, led by UN Ambassador Samantha Power, insists that Assad's removal is a necessary step toward ending the war. The thinking is that unless he steps down or is removed, there is no way to defeat the Islamic State. By this logic, the best policy is to ramp up U.S. support for the rebels fighting the regime. This camp is losing ground as the Islamic State appears to be a bigger threat and as the war drags on.