We Should help the rebels topple Assad if they turn on Al Qaeda and help Assad if they refuse

"But the people 'liberating' themselves include elements of Al Qaeda. National Security first. Spreading democracy second. America needs to protect itself first before pursuing wars based on idealism. Besides that if Al Qaeda wins they won't have a democracy they'll have a theocracy." Think of it this way, if America was going to throw over the government, gangs like the KKK would join the effort. The people overthrowing the government may not avidly sponsor and endorse KKK members in the revolt, but they are still there. In that scenario, would you think it would be acceptable for another country to tell us we must find and destroy the KKK members that have integrated themselves into the revolution? Also, Al Qaeda could install a theocracy but the people could too. The middle east has a different culture than we do, if a theocracy goes is installed an the people are fine with it and not being oppressed, and we are not being threatened, I respect that countries decision to be a theocracy. "I never said I thought all Muslims hated America." I never said you did. It seems to be a common stereotype that surfaces. I didn't mean to direct it towards you, if you felt that way I apologize. "Integrated how? They're Al Qaeda! They're not going to become integrated and just get along and accept democracy afterwards." The Al Qaeda's main ideology is Jihad, which literally means Struggle, but the concept includes armed struggle against oppression. (http://en.wikipedia.org...). Al Qaeda is feeding off of this revolution, and fights along side the rest of the Syrian people. Al Qaeda can spread their message through this revolution, and does it as much as possible. They appear to be the good guys when they help out with the revolution and play quite a large role in it. They won't accept democracy afterwards, but for now they stop fighting us to overthrow a dictator and recruit new members while they are doing so. "In this case it isn't primarily about Syria, it's about us. This is about putting America first. Al Qaeda is a threat to our national security so allowing a new regime to take power that could be ruled by them makes no sense. We should do what we can to prevent an Al Qaeda-lead Syria. If we leave it alone the rebels might win and Al Qaeda might rule them. But Assad isn't a good guy so if we can side with the rebels on condition that they purge themselves of Al Qaeda we may be able to get rid of Al Qaeda and Assad. But to protect our national security interests we should support Assad if the rebels refuse. If we don't the rebels might win and institute an Islamic fundamentalist Al Qaeda-run state in Syria." Al Qaeda is not the focus of the revolution, the focus is the people overthrowing the government. Once the dictator is gone it would be a great idea to arrange a plan to hunt down Al Qaeda members. In order to protect our "national security interests" we would form a strong bond with the new Syrian government and help them rebuild with programs like Peace Corps, and ask for help with the Al Qaeda issue. Under no circumstance should we support Assad who slaughters his people with massacres, chemical weapons, and public executions. We started a war with Saddam for reasons that are quite similar.