Rebel Arms Flow is Said to Benefit Jihadists in Syria
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON Most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists, and not the more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster, according to American officials and Middle Eastern diplomats.
That conclusion, of which President Obama and other senior officials are aware from classified assessments of the Syrian conflict that has now claimed more than 25,000 lives, casts into doubt whether the White Houses strategy of minimal and indirect intervention in the Syrian conflict is accomplishing its intended purpose of helping a democratic-minded opposition topple an oppressive government, or is instead sowing the seeds of future insurgencies hostile to the United States.
The opposition groups that are receiving the most of the lethal aid are exactly the ones we dont want to have it, said one American official familiar with the outlines of those findings, commenting on an operation that in American eyes has increasingly gone awry.
The United States is not sending arms directly to the Syrian opposition. Instead, it is providing intelligence and other support for shipments of secondhand light weapons like rifles and grenades into Syria, mainly orchestrated from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The reports indicate that the shipments organized from Qatar, in particular, are largely going to hard-line Islamists.
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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/world/middleeast/jihadists-receiving-most-arms-sent-to-syrian-rebels.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121015&_r=0
What is there to say?
truthisfreedom
(23,155 posts)We shouldn't need it.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)"Stop relying on oil" is easier said than done.
How about "stop trying to overthrow governments we don't like"? It seems to frequently bite us in the ass, in addition to being arrogant and imperialistic.
Selatius
(20,441 posts)The mass transit grid in the United States could only really be described as decrepit.
The Soviet Union probably had a better mass transit grid than this.
If the United States spent one-fifth as much on mass transit as it does on the defense budget, this country would have a world-class mass transit grid on par with countries such as Germany, France, or Japan.
But we'd rather continue subsidizing oil companies like Exxon-Mobil or BP-Amoco or ConocoPhillips or any other major oil companies in exchange for cheap gasoline. Oh ... wait!!!
They own our politicians. Our whole energy policy is skewed towards fossil fuels because our elections are privately funded, and the rich have a competitive advantage here, and they also own the major news networks and can bend the message.
Turbineguy
(37,365 posts)Mr. Obama took Romney's advice!
Oh wait, he didn't.
Citizen Worker
(1,785 posts)outcome will likely be the same. Will we ever learn? NO!
leveymg
(36,418 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)The Alawite-dominated Ba'ath Party (Syrian Shi'ites) are never going to negotiate any political settlement so long as they are literally under the gun and threat of genocide by armed Sunni foreign-supported Jihadists. They have no choice but to continue fighting for their very survival.
If you want an end to the slaughter on both sides, pressure KSA/GCC and Turkey to withdraw the foreign fighters.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)arewenotdemo
(2,364 posts)I think most Americans know about the blowback from our support of the jihadists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
What many Americans don't know is the much longer history of American support for Islamist resistance to Arab nationalism going back at least to Nasser and Egypt.
To me it's appalling that this Administration has allied itself in any way with these forces.