Now we know where Anne Barnard gets her insights from on Syria

When you are an ignorant non-expert who is assigned to cover a region, chances are that due to your ignorance and lack of expertise you will rely on the opinions and views of ignorant, non-experts like yourself:  "Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, wrote in a recent essay that appeared in The National."  This is Anne Barnard's expert on Syria (a Dahlanist with a degree in Egnlish literature).