William Van Wagenen

There is No FSA, There is Only Al-Qaeda

by William Van Wagenen | Dec 27, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

A brief overview of collaboration between the US-backed Free Syrian Army and al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. Among Syria commentators in the West, both left and mainstream, it is commonly claimed that the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad has attempted to crush the supposedly moderate, secular rebels of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), while at the same time deliberately supporting extremist rebel groups in order to “Islamize” the Syrian rebellion and to convince the West the Syrian government is really fighting terrorism. It is argued that if Assad could claim his...

Why Does Assad Buy Oil From ISIS?

by William Van Wagenen | Aug 27, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

A common claim in the mainstream narrative about the Syrian conflict is that the “Assad regime” is “colluding” with the notorious terror group, ISIS. Some commentators even suggest that the Syrian government actually created ISIS in an effort to “Islamize” the Syrian revolution, and thereby destroy the supposedly secular, democratic, moderate rebel forces allegedly fighting for freedom against the Syrian dictatorship. By doing so, Assad would force “the world to choose between his regime and ISIS.” One oft-cited aspect of this alleged collusion is the claim that the Syrian government...

Yes, Aleppo was Liberated

by William Van Wagenen | Jul 6, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

As the Syrian government and its Russian allies conducted a campaign to re-capture the northern Syrian city of Aleppo from U.S.-backed rebel groups in December of 2016, Western media outlets gave the impression that the Russian air force was mercilessly bombing defenseless civilians in the city, and lamented supposed Western inaction in the face of alleged Russian and Syrian crimes. The idea that the West needed to come to the aid of Aleppo’s civilians in the face of the Syrian and Russian onslaught was ubiquitous in the Western press. One commentator writing at CNN claimed that, “time and...

Is There a Western Plot to Overthrow Assad?

by William Van Wagenen | Jun 21, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The Western narrative of the Syrian conflict, which began in the Spring of 2011, suggests that the Syrian people began to peacefully protest for an end to the Assad regime, which then responded with brutal oppression; killing, imprisoning and torturing innocent Syrian civilians in an effort to maintain power. In time, Syrian soldiers defected from the army (because they refused orders to shoot peaceful protesters), began to arm themselves, and created the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to fight the regime. The West then began to support the Syrian rebels, in an effort to protect civilians and allow...

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William Van Wagenen has a BA in German literature From Brigham Young University and an MA in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. You can read his other writings on Syria for the Libertarian Institute here. Follow him on Twitter @wvanwagenen.