Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden – who, back in the good old Obama administration days, lobbied for the arming of ‘moderate’ rebels in Syria – slammed Trump for downgrading the US military to an oilfield occupation force.

“Leaving troops behind like [Trump’s] doing now – he says that what he wants to do is we’re going to occupy the oil fields and we’re going to take ‘em,” Biden told the Wall Street Journal. He expressed deep regret that the vacuum left by the withdrawal of US troops has disastrously been filled by the (legitimate) Syrian government, Russia, and (probably worst of all) Iran. Oh, and Islamic State terrorists of course.

That’s like a giant 300-foot recruiting poster for ISIS

As if only a terrorist would oppose an illegal US occupation and deny Americans their God-given right to loot sovereign nations’ natural resources, Biden did not criticize the ‘secure the oil’ policy per se, but rather lamented yet another ‘betrayal’ of US allies.

Back in the days in the Obama administration, Biden lobbied for a $500-million Syrian rebel train and equip program – even though he once admitted that finding even a single ‘moderate’ that was revolutionary enough might prove hard, if not impossible, as it was unlikely there was “a Thomas Jefferson hiding behind some rock, or a James Madison beyond one sand dune.”

The fact of the matter is, the ability to identify a moderate middle in Syria was — there was no moderate middle...

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So when reports of American weapons regularly falling into the hands of IS and US-backed militants joining the ranks of hardcore jihadists finally reached the mainstream media, Biden famously tried to deflect the blame, claiming it wasn’t Washington’s fault that its own allies had been pouring “hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad.”

After the ‘moderate rebel’ endeavor flopped and turned into a PR disaster, Washington disowned the likes of the Free Syrian Army, but managed to maintain a foothold in northern Syria and capture oil fields in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate with the help of its new ‘boots on the ground’, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Also on rt.com ‘I like oil!’ Trump reaffirms predatory intentions in Syria as Assad calls him ‘the best’ US president for his honesty

“I like oil! We’re keeping the oil!” Trump proclaimed as he pulled out the troops, making it clear that the only reason the US is maintaining a small (but still illegal) military presence after the pullout is to deny Damascus access to its natural resources. Each month, the US smuggles crude worth $30 million out of Syria, according to Russia’s estimates – which is not only in violation of international law but, ironically, also in breach of its own unilateral sanctions against the war-ravaged state.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, however, gave Trump credit for openly admitting to representing the interests of American lobbies, in stark contrast with the previous ‘Nobel Peace Prize’ administration that posed as the “defenders of human rights and noble and unique American values.”

Also on rt.com US smuggles crude worth $30mn per month from occupied Syrian oil fields, violating its own sanctions – Russian Foreign Ministry

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