Syria
Crisis: Obama Requests $500M to Train, Equip Rebels
Andrea
Mitchell, Courtney Kube and Daniel Arkin
President
Obama is asking Congress to approve $500 million to train and equip moderate
Syrian rebels struggling to oust President Bashar Assad after more than three
years of civil war.
The
opposition rebels would be vetted before being given assistance, according to a
statement from National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden. Hayden said
the funds would "help defend the Syrian people, stabilize areas under opposition
control, facilitate the provision of essential services, counter terrorist
threats, and promote conditions for a negotiation settlement."
The
request marks the first time the Obama administration would be overtly supplying
weapons to the Syrian rebel forces in a program run by the Pentagon under the
military budget, according to U.S. official. It has the advantage of enabling
the U.S. government to send more sophisticated weapons, and allows it the
ability to discuss the program publicly to allies and congressional critics.
But
sources told NBC News the administration has been covertly arming the rebels for
the last year through the CIA, providing opposition forces with less
sophisticated weaponry in a program that had been advocated years earlier by
both former General David Petraeus and former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
Obama
hinted at the increased support for the opposition forces during a commencement address at West Point last month.
"In helping those who fight for the right of all Syrians to choose their own
future, we also push back against the growing number of extremists who find safe
haven in the chaos," Obama told the graduating cadets.
Donald Hank comments: To put this in perspective, please view this video of these wonderful ’rebels’ beheaded children:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avu6hhvJWos
And read this article on how these kind allies of ours massacred a Christian village:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/asia/item/15562-syrian-rebels-massacre-christian-village
Given Obama’s request to help these killers, It should be clear why I said that Washington DC was the seat of the Caliphate (http://drrichswier.com/2014/06/15/washington-d-c-seat-caliphate/)
If you don’t want your congress person to support these butchers, let them know asap and tell him that if he spends one penny of your money on weapons for these cold blooded killers, you will launch a campaign to unseat him.
Don Hank