Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey were in favor of the plan last year put forth by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former CIA Director David Petraeus to arm the Syrian opposition, a plan which was rejected by the White House.
The New York Times reported last week that Secretary Clinton, along with Gen. Petraeus, had advocated arming select Syrian rebels in their fight against the Assad regime, but that this was turned down by President Obama.
During testimony before the Senate Armed Service Committee on Thursday, Dempsey said both he and Panetta sided with Clinton.
“Did you support the recommendation by then Secretary of State Clinton and then head of CIA General Petraeus that we provide weapons to the resistance in Syria? Did you support that?” Sen. John McCain asked Panetta and Dempsey.
“We did,” Dempsey responded.
McCain issued a statement later Thursday condemning the White House for overruling the leadership of the State Department, the Defense Department, and the CIA on this matter, calling Obama’s opposition to arming the rebels “a graphic failure of American leadership.”
For at least a year, the US has bolstered the Syrian rebel movement fighting to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Hundreds of millions of dollars as well as non-lethal gear have been sent to the rebel fighters, in addition to financial aid and weapons from US allies in the Arab Gulf states.
But reports have long established that al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups, and other Sunni extremist factions like it, have become the key element in the Syrian rebel opposition, despite repeated attempts by some in Washington to paint the rebels as freedom fighters.
In October, The New York Times published an article confirming that “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,” despite the fact that those weapons were being sent with US approval and coordination.
All along, the Obama administration claimed they had a proper vetting process which allowed them to pick and choose which of Syria’s disparate, unorganized rebel groups would receive the assistance, and avoid the thousands of jihadist fighters, many of whom are fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda.
But a US official told the Washington Post early on that the CIA knew very little about who was receiving US support, nor could they control exactly where it ended up. “It’s still the case that without actual access to Syria, it’s hard to know exactly who they are,” the official said.
The New York Times also reported that the Obama administration has been “increasing aid to the rebels” even though “we don’t really know” who is receiving it.
In two recent interviews, President Obama articulated in unprecedented depth why his administration has chosen to refrain from either directly arming rebel fighters in Syria or from any direct military action against the Assad regime.
“We do nobody a service when we leap before we look, where we…take on things without having thought through all the consequences of it,” Obama said in an interview with CBS.
“We are not going to be able to control every aspect of every transition and transformation” in conflicts around the world, he added.
“What I have to constantly wrestle with,” President Obama said in a separate interview with The New Republic, “is where and when can the United States intervene or act in ways that advance our national interest, advance our security, and speak to our highest ideals and sense of common humanity.”
“In a situation like Syria, I have to ask, can we make a difference in that situation?” Obama asked. “Would a military intervention have an impact? How would it affect our ability to support troops who are still in Afghanistan? What would be the aftermath of our involvement on the ground? Could it trigger even worse violence or the use of chemical weapons?”
Experts largely agree, Obama’s staff and Congressional Republicans notwithstanding, that a US intervention in Syria would worsen the humanitarian situation, and specifically for the Clinton-Petraeus plan of arming the rebels, would sponsor al-Qaeda affiliates and lay the ground for blowback.
This is beyond absurd.
Glaser:
The strategy clearly being employed by the Obama Administration is precisely to "worsen the humanitarian situation"….Duh…
'How can this be'?…you may wonder…
Well…it's essentially the same logic as "crippling sanctions"–only with mercenary terrorists, dupes, and child soldiers… The intended goal is to turn the domestic population, and the so-called "international community", against the "Assad regime". 'Pressure…pressure…pressure…'
What exactly is Obama doing to 'curb the bloodshed' and/or lessen the "humanitarian crisis" other than provide an operating budget for the prison tent camps set up in the nations bordering Syria?
"Communications equipment" is 'directly' being sent by the US to the mercenary terrorists on the ground in Syria–even Obama will most likely admit this–as Hillary Clinton already has. So…how is Saudi Arabia and Qatar Joe Biden claims "we are working hand and glove with" openly providing them with the 'lethal weapons' in Turkey at the exact same time the US provides the "communications equipment" materially different than the US also providing the 'lethal weapons'…at least openly doing so, that is?
The answer is: domestic politics and deniability…
You see: when the results of the terror campaign being waged against Syria rears it's ugly face to the world in the form of car bombs and mass graves inside so-called "rebel" controlled territory (aka "liberated zones")…Obama can simply say that he's not responsible….he also doesn't have to answer why things aren't going as 'planned' if, and when, things do not (i.e. Assad's expected inevitable "fall" over a year and a half ago).
Obama gets to play both sides of the fence this way… He's "not involved" when it's convenient…and he "is involved" when it's convenient….
Make no mistake about it though: the level of violence seen today would not be possible without the US's direct 'involvement' and continuous efforts to sabotage any real 'peaceful, political, resolution'…
Agreed.
Obama is no less a militarist or war criminal for preferring the covert above the overt.
The official (planted?) version is being publicized to portray Obama as the peacemaker.
Shouldn't it be the "imagemaker"?
Much ado about Obama simply being more cognizant of the political value of his image than are his advisors. Even the most ardent Obamaphiles prefer a fig leaf.
There is no humanity in any military action taken by pentagon or for that matter the White House.., look whom is governing the USA, pentagon..? CIA..? State department..? Whom…? One thing is for sure.., it seams that everyone is at odds with White House.., yet the directors and leaders.., all are hand picked and hired by White House,.., so when White House denying such idea "pentagon wanted to arm the Syrian rebels" questions the fact that there are differences in policy making coming from all the above mentioned departments.., it simply shows that there are differences and ideas in how to worsen the situation….., or is it….?
"Here we are again discussing the Syria situation. As usual HERE…… @AW.com the discussion always seems to come from the perspective that Assad is the victim of actions by America, Israel and others of empire's acolytes. This is, in spite of Assad's Syria being major torture destination, …..for the hapless victims of Neocon efforts to extract "confessions" and other "information" from those the coalition purchased, snatched and "rendered" worldwide. Mayer Arar, poster person of the Syrian torture efforts at empire's behest, has since been exonerated after undergoing a YEAR of being pressed by Assad's torturers with techniques pecurliar to them such as performing surgery like cuttings of genitals…
"While testifying at the Guantanamo military commission for alleged child soldier Omar Khadr, FBI agent Robert Fuller testified that Khadr had identified Maher Arar as among the al-Qaeda militants he met while in Afghanistan. On October 7, 2002, Mr. Fuller went to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and showed Canadian teenager Omar Khadr a black-and-white photograph of Arar obtained from the FBI office in Massachusetts, and demanded to know if he recognised him. Khadr initially stated that he did not recognise Arar. Upon cross-examination, Mr. Fuller clarified his testimony saying that at first Mr. Khadr could not identify Mr. Arar. Then after giving him a couple minutes Khadr "stated he felt he had seen" Maher Arar[18] at a Kabul safehouse run by Abu Musab al-Suri or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The validity of Omar Khadr's possible sighting has been seriously questioned due to the time frame of the alleged sighting which was sometime during September or October 2001. Mr. Arar was known to be in North America during this time frame and under surveillance by the RCMP.[19] Khadr's lawyer told Canadian media that Khadr, claiming to be under torture at Bagram Theater Internment Facility, simply told his captors whatever he thought they wanted to hear. Lawyers and advocates familiar with the case immediately dismissed the allegations…" Wikipedia
"MAHER ARAR talks with Amy Goodman:
"MAHER ARAR: Well, let me emphasize here, my case is probably unique in the sense that I was the only Syrian-born Canadian who was sent or renditioned to Syria from U.S. soil. But let me be clear here, there were many victims of rendition of Syrian origin who actually were rendered from Pakistan and other places to Syria. Now, why the — and let me also say that when the American government sent me to Syria, they knew exactly what they were doing. In fact, I can vividly remember what an ex-CIA agent said around 2004 about the rendition program. He basically something said like — if I remember correctly, his is name is Robert Baer. He said, "If you want people to be well interrogated, you send them to Jordan. If you want people to be disappeared, you send them to Egypt. And if you want people to be tortured, you send them to Syria." And that’s exactly what ended up happening. So what this basically says is that whoever took the decision to send me to Syria, they knew, or they basically wanted me to be tortured in order to extract information, what we call today "torture by proxy."
AMY GOODMAN: That was Robert Baer, the ex-CIA agent. So, what do you think this means about the U.S. relationship with Syria today, how much sway the U.S. has, what the U.S. should be doing right now? We just got reports from Damascus and from the border, Amnesty describing this as a scorched earth policy against — well, against the Syrian government’s own people, that the Syrian government, that Bashar al-Assad, is engaging in right now.
MAHER ARAR: Well, the U.S. government has a huge responsibility for a simple reason. The cooperation with the Syrian government, as well as other dictatorships in the Middle East post-9/11, gave some kind of legitimacy to those dictatorships. And it is now — the prime responsibility of the U.S. government is to put the pressure on the Syrian government.
For instance, two things that the U.S. government can do right now. First of all, they have to declare this regime to be illegitimate, and they have forfeited their right to rule. Second, I think they have to press — and we’re here in Canada doing this, I mean, human rights activists and myself are actually pushing our government here to take a lead to refer this matter to the International Criminal Court."
So, somehow, Assad has become the good guys at this time….. I myself am very conflicted about Syria and Assad…… But I won't shed any tears for him if he goes down…. In the end it could be the best thing for those who resist empires "creative Destruction"…!!!
"Here we are again discussing the Syria situation. As usual HERE…… @AW.com the discussion always seems to come from the perspective that Assad is the victim of actions by America, Israel and others of empire's acolytes. This is, in spite of Assad's Syria being major torture destination, …..for the hapless victims of Neocon efforts to extract "confessions" and other "information" from those the coalition purchased, snatched and "rendered" worldwide. Mayer Arar, poster person of the Syrian torture efforts at empire's behest, has since been exonerated after undergoing a 18 monthe of being pressed by Assad's torturers.
"While testifying at the Guantanamo military commission for alleged child soldier Omar Khadr, FBI agent Robert Fuller testified that Khadr had identified Maher Arar as among the al-Qaeda militants he met while in Afghanistan. On October 7, 2002, Mr. Fuller went to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and showed Canadian teenager Omar Khadr a black-and-white photograph of Arar obtained from the FBI office in Massachusetts, and demanded to know if he recognised him. Khadr initially stated that he did not recognise Arar. Upon cross-examination, Mr. Fuller clarified his testimony saying that at first Mr. Khadr could not identify Mr. Arar. Then after giving him a couple minutes Khadr "stated he felt he had seen" Maher Arar[18] at a Kabul safehouse run by Abu Musab al-Suri or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The validity of Omar Khadr's possible sighting has been seriously questioned due to the time frame of the alleged sighting which was sometime during September or October 2001. Mr. Arar was known to be in North America during this time frame and under surveillance by the RCMP.[19] Khadr's lawyer told Canadian media that Khadr, claiming to be under torture at Bagram Theater Internment Facility, simply told his captors whatever he thought they wanted to hear. Lawyers and advocates familiar with the case immediately dismissed the allegations…" Wikipedia
"MAHER ARAR talks with Amy Goodman:
"MAHER ARAR: Well, let me emphasize here, my case is probably unique in the sense that I was the only Syrian-born Canadian who was sent or renditioned to Syria from U.S. soil. But let me be clear here, there were many victims of rendition of Syrian origin who actually were rendered from Pakistan and other places to Syria. Now, why the — and let me also say that when the American government sent me to Syria, they knew exactly what they were doing. In fact, I can vividly remember what an ex-CIA agent said around 2004 about the rendition program. He basically something said like — if I remember correctly, his is name is Robert Baer. He said, "If you want people to be well interrogated, you send them to Jordan. If you want people to be disappeared, you send them to Egypt. And if you want people to be tortured, you send them to Syria." And that’s exactly what ended up happening. So what this basically says is that whoever took the decision to send me to Syria, they knew, or they basically wanted me to be tortured in order to extract information, what we call today "torture by proxy."
AMY GOODMAN: That was Robert Baer, the ex-CIA agent. So, what do you think this means about the U.S. relationship with Syria today, how much sway the U.S. has, what the U.S. should be doing right now? We just got reports from Damascus and from the border, Amnesty describing this as a scorched earth policy against — well, against the Syrian government’s own people, that the Syrian government, that Bashar al-Assad, is engaging in right now.
MAHER ARAR: Well, the U.S. government has a huge responsibility for a simple reason. The cooperation with the Syrian government, as well as other dictatorships in the Middle East post-9/11, gave some kind of legitimacy to those dictatorships. And it is now — the prime responsibility of the U.S. government is to put the pressure on the Syrian government.
For instance, two things that the U.S. government can do right now. First of all, they have to declare this regime to be illegitimate, and they have forfeited their right to rule. Second, I think they have to press — and we’re here in Canada doing this, I mean, human rights activists and myself are actually pushing our government here to take a lead to refer this matter to the International Criminal Court."
So, somehow, Assad has become the good guys at this time….. I myself am very conflicted about Syria and Assad…… But I won't shed any tears for him if he goes down…. In the end it could be the best thing for those who resist empires "creative Destruction"…!!!
"Major Torture Destination"???
WTF are you talking about…and compared to who and what now???
Don't worry, you're right: no "tears" need to be shed…that is by any who sympathize with people who decapitate little girls and post it on YouTube simply to blame it on Assad:
http://youtu.be/5Yq70cCEUvs7318
Sorry, but the idea that Assad is responsible for decapitating this little girl and disposing of the head inside of a plastic bag (so the identity is concealed) while a crowd is chanting "allahu akbar…allahu akbar…allahu akbar" every five seconds…doesn't seem to fit the 'profile' of Assad…
These idiots literally sound like zombies…I'm not quite sure this is something 'moralizers' who live in a sheltered world can actually comprehend…much less offer real "solutions" or "advise"…
I'm glad others have "opinions" on how to run Syria without actually having to do so…but there is a difference between "fantasy" and "reality"… Will the little girl decapitators do a better job in your opinion?
On top of that: Assad does not control everything that goes on in Syria at every second… Moreover: "torture" and how 'prisoners' (the bottom of the food chain in any, and all, societies–even lower than homeless people) are treated is a societal 'issue'…it could actually make someone a Fox News so-called "analyst" here in the USA… So??? Should the US go to war over this? Or would that only logically compound the 'issues' and make things worse–while 100s of thousands die in the process?
Just wondering…
The bottom line remains the requirement for the US and Israel to re-align the strategic posture of Israel vis-a-vis Syria and Lebanon in order to enable an Iran war. This process is the primary constraint on when the Iran war can occur.
Obama is just a con man. Nothing he says can be taken as anything but a self-serving lie. All these "crocodile tears" over his "wrestling with intervention" is so much BS. Yeah, we're supposed to believe it's "all about him." In reality, he will do what the military-industrial complex, the oil companies, the banks and the Israel Lobby want him to do – attack Syria and start a war with Iran.
The only question is how and when this will be done.
MvGuy…, look.., the problem in Syria was not started by the Syrian government nor the Syrian people.., as in Libya and Tunisia the problem started by Hillary Clinton and tyrants of the gulf as UAE and Saudis fascism-monarchism.., the majority of Syrian people still don't approve the changes these regimes asking to be implemented and such demand is highly supported by us and EU governments as England, French, Germans, the Swedish and rest of the growing Neo fascism in Europe. These regime simply after and wanting to divide the Lebanon, Syrian, Iraqi, Iran, Russia and china friendship and unity. In the other hand us and EU present governing system consist of vulture capitalism following the Paul Wolfowitz idea dictating to these regime in regard to what Bush-ism was doing.., that bring us to the facts 1-where us and EU militarism regime wanting to divide nations in Middle East using UAE and Saudis by implementing their illegitimate sons of terrorism which as a result a continues wars against terrorists is the us and eu doctrine.., by destroying the legitimate governments replacing them with a puppet regimes as in Libya. 2-if they succeed then us and EU filled Paul Wolfowitz idea in conquering the entire Middle East and its natural resources which is the main idea. For that matter.., Syria needs to be destroyed before Israel can attack Lebanon and for NATO to invade Syrian from turkey.., here us governing system so as EU supporting the changes.., yet as in Iraq they have hit the sand and stock into their created misery creating a bigger problem not knowing what to do next…, because the Syrian people have resisted every and they will resist any of their future unjust and to many cases inhuman moves.
Dempsey and Panetta wanted to break windows so they could later fix them?