White House Is ‘Heartbroken’ That Al-Qaeda Is About to Be Booted From Aleppo. ‘No Positive Spin to Put on the Situation’ (Video)

A surreal press conference at the White House yesterday:

A transcript by yours truly:

Journalist: Aleppo looks like it will fall quite soon, and fall to the government of Bashar al-Assad. Do you have any further reaction to this impending disaster which looks like it will happen in the next several days?

White House spokesman: The Obama administration, including the president himself, continues to be profoundly disturbed at the violence that is being used against innocent Syrians in Aleppo.

This is violence that is organized and executed by the Assad government with the willing support of the Russians and the Iranians, and the situation is just heartbreaking.

I saw a report earlier today that latest estimate is there are hundreds of thousands of children in besieged locations — that’s difficult to comprehend, and it’s tragic. And there’s no positive spin to put on a situation like that.

What I can tell you is that the United States continues to work diplomatically to try to bring the violence to an end and to try to provide for routine and continuous humanitarian aid deliveries.

But a solution that looks like that has remained frustratingly out of reach. It doesn’t mean that United States has stopped trying. If anything we have seen secretary of state John Kerry redouble his efforts to try to bring about that kind of solution. Because we know it’s just impossible to impose a military solution on a situation like this.

Let’s take this apart:

The Obama administration, including the president himself,…

Just how a weak president does one have to be that his spokesman has to specifically point out that when he says “the Obama administration” he also means the president as well?

…continues to be profoundly disturbed at the violence that is being used against innocent Syrians in Aleppo.

The question from the journalist is what is Obama’s reaction to the impending doom of rebels led by al-Qaeda and the answer is that he is “profoundly disturbed” about it because it represents violence against innocent Syrians.

This is violence that is organized and executed by the Assad government with the willing support of the Russians and the Iranians, and the situation is just heartbreaking.

Not just “profoundly disturbed”. Obama is “heartbroken” about the Syrian-Russian-Iranian offensive being conducted against “innocent Syrians in Aleppo”. (No mention of al-Qaeda or any of the rebels at all.)

I saw a report earlier today that latest estimate is there are hundreds of thousands of children in besieged locations — that’s difficult to comprehend, and it’s tragic. And there’s no positive spin to put on a situation like that.

And thousands of those children are in enclaves defended by the government and besieged by ISIS or the rebels. In fact Aleppo itself was besieged by the rebels in 2013 but the White House failed to muster comparable sympathy for it.

But a solution that looks like that has remained frustratingly out of reach. It doesn’t mean that United States has stopped trying. If anything we have seen secretary of state John Kerry redouble his efforts to try to bring about that kind of solution.

This confirms the story that Russians put out recently that Kerry is pleading with Moscow to spare al-Qaeda in Aleppo on a daily basis. It’s a truly cringe-inducing. US officials desperate to save al-Qaeda in order not to look irrelevant. This after Kerry himself said going after al-Qaeda was a good thing and not a concession to anyone if the US does it.

The thing is the Obama administration could have been a part of these events and exerted its own influence on them — had it only abided by the Kerry-Lavrov deal on Syria from September 9.

The rebels in Aleppo are in retreat and some have crossed over to Kurdish lines and asked to be admitted into the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The White House could have played up these events to present a reality of advancing US security by rolling back al-Qaeda, as well as successfully separating the moderate opposition from the extremists and therefore improving the prospects for a negotiated peace and reform in Syria.

Moreover there is even more evidence now that US accusing Russia of bombing the UN aid convoy in Aleppo on September 19 which is what caused the Lavrov-Kerry deal was unwarranted. The invaluable Gareth Porter just laid out a powerful case that it was another manipulation by the White Helmets: How a Syrian White Helmets Leader Played Western Media

Because we know it’s just impossible to impose a military solution on a situation like this.

Except the White House correspondent who raised the question clearly fears the Syrian army is well on its way to imposing a military solution in Aleppo.