Let's arm us some Syrian rebels!

[Zimbow]

Senate votes to approve Obama’s plan to fight Islamist militants

Congress cleared the way for the U.S. military to train and equip Syrian rebels for a war against Islamic State militants on Thursday, the same day French President Francois Hollande announced France would join the U.S. airstrikes. (AP)

President Obama’s plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels exposed a deep rift Thursday among Democrats over waging war, with a large bloc of liberals staunchly opposed to the modest mission, fearing another long-term engagement in Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-expected-to-give-approval-to-obamas-plan-to-fight-islamist-militants/2014/09/18/f7fc229e-3f3e-11e4-9587-5dafd96295f0_story.html

This article was written on June 14 of this year;

BEIRUT — A Syrian rebel group's April pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda's replacement for Osama bin Laden suggests that the terrorist group's influence is not waning and that it may take a greater role in the Western-backed fight to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.


The pledge of allegiance by Syrian Jabhat al Nusra Front chief Abou Mohamad al-Joulani to al-Qaeda leader Sheik Ayman al-Zawahri was coupled with an announcement by the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, that it would work with al Nusra as well.


Lebanese Sheik Omar Bakri, a Salafist who says states must be governed by Muslim religious law, says al-Qaeda has assisted al Nusra for some time.


"They provided them early on with technical, military and financial support , especially when it came to setting up networks of foreign jihadis who were brought into Syria," Bakri says. "There will certainly be greater coordination between the two groups."


The United States, which supports the overthrow of Assad, designated al Nusra a terrorist entity in December. The Obama administration has said it wants to support only those insurgent groups that are not terrorist organizations.


Al Nusra and groups like it have seen some of the most significant victories against Syrian government forces in the course of the 2-year-old uprising in which Assad's forces have killed about 80,000 people. Rebels not affiliated with al-Qaeda have pressed Washington for months to send weaponry that will allow them to match the heavy weapons of the Syrian army. They've urged the West to mount an air campaign against Assad's mechanized forces.


President Obama refuses to provide any direct military aid. Foreign radical Islamists streaming into the fight from the Middle East and Europe are making headway with the Syrian population by providing services and gaining ground in battles.


Tamer Mouhieddine, spokesman for the Syrian Free Army, a force made up of Syrian soldiers who have defected, said the recent announcements would not change his group's attitude toward al Nusra.


"The rebels in Syria have one common enemy — Bashar Assad — and they will collaborate with any faction allowing them to topple his regime," he said.


He confirmed that al Nusra is generating loyalty in Aleppo, a region battling for months with Assad, by providing financial support as well as setting up charities.


Aaron Zelin at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington says al Nusra's ability to provide security and basic needs such as bread and fuel to Syrian civilians, as well as to reopen shops and restart bus services, has won gratitude from people who would not usually adhere to its strict ideology.


Zelin says some Syrian people have criticized al Nusra for banning alcohol, forcing women to wear a full veil and whipping men who are seen with women in public.


"This illustrates the need for American leadership in the Syrian conflict, particularly with regard to helping non-Qaeda-aligned rebels contain the growth of (al Nusra) and similar groups," he said. "Washington should also try to take advantage of cleavages within the rebellion and civilian population, since al Nusra is outside the mainstream and more concerned with establishing a transnational caliphate than maintaining the Syrian state."


Groups such as the Islamic Liwaa al Tawhid, which collaborates with al Nusra on military operations, worried that Assad would use the announcement from al Nusra as evidence for his claim that he is fighting terrorists, not Syrian citizens who wish an end to his dictatorship, Mouhieddine said.


"We are willing to fight alongside any faction targeting the Assad regime, as long as it does not have a foreign agenda, which seems now the case" of al Nusra, he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...ction/2075323/

You can thank President Obola and Congress for this one.

[pwaldo]

This is another stupid thing to do that really makes no sense when you think about it but for whatever reason Obama and the rest of Congress continue to push it.

First we already armed and trained the Iraqi soldiers for months and months losing lots of troops in the process and millions of dollars. What happens they ran away when ISIS showed up allowing them to capture all the military stuff we gave them. Now those people were better trained than these rebels will be so why do we expect a better outcome than ISIS capturing even more weapons?

Second we have no clue who these people are or what they will do. Go back and see the "moderate" rebels and others we have backed who have just turned into trouble for the United States. By giving them weapons you are just arming more and more people who we might have to eventually fight with US troops.

Lastly why are we wanting these rebels to overthrow Assad again? The whole reason why ISIS is running wild like Hulkamania in the 1980s is that the dictators were removed in that region. Assad is fighting the rebels and ISIS so it isn't like he likes ISIS either. He's a bad person but at least he and other dictators can waste their resources keeping terrorists out instead of the United States having to do it. The rebels are going to have to defeat Assad (who is backed Russia and others) and take out ISIS now that the US is backing them. That doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon so we are seemingly entering into another huge money pit here where we don't even know what the outcome will be when we "win".

[Star_Cards]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of arming rebels. There are a lot of examples of our government doing this in the past and it rarely works out. It's like releasing snakes to kill a rat infestation and then you're just left with an infestation of snakes.