Syrian regime change is 'inevitable,' a 'priority' for U.S., says Nikki Haley
American envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley outlined an expansive agenda, including "inevitable" regime change, for U.S. intervention in Syria in a CNN State of the Union interview airing Sunday.
"Getting [Bashar al-Assad] out is not the only priority," she said in response to host Jake Tapper's question about whether regime change is official U.S. policy. "So what we're trying to do is obviously defeat [the Islamic State]. Secondly, we don't see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there. Thirdly, get the Iranian influence out. And then finally move towards a political solution ... but we know that there is not any sort of option where a political solution is going to happen with Assad at the head of the regime."
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Saturday likewise said the U.S. "can't put up with" Assad, while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson named defeating ISIS as the Trump administration's top priority in Syria. Watch an excerpt of Haley's comments below. Bonnie Kristian
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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