Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel became the first US official to admit that the administration is “rethinking” its previous decision not to arm Syria’s rebels directly, though he insisted that no decision had been made and this was just one option being considered.
This follows days of much less official comments on the matter, with anonymous officials doing most of the talking, capped off with yesterday’s comments from White House spokesman Jay Carney that he “declined to deny” that the rethink was taking place, at the time the only on-record comment.
In the past the US has refused to directly send “lethal aid” to the rebels, but has sent a lot of other gear and facilitated weapons shipments from other (mostly Saudi Arabia and the GCC) nations.
The shift reportedly reflects President Obama’s desire to get more “aggressive” in backing regime change in Syria, but comes as other nations that were more gung-ho originally are backing off the stance, fearing the large al-Qaeda-backed portions of the rebel force can’t be trusted with better weapons.
How about considering the option of arming Assad's armies to put an end to the terrorist attacks that have turned a thriving nation to rubble. Let me guess, israel wouldn't approve.
Good idea. However, as any good comment here, it will be deleted soon.
I just came back here to see if my comment has been deleted – it is deleted.
My mistake was to send this link here:
anti-war.com-betrays-mission. I found that it is true. I experienced the same here and in my profile you can see why. I also think the founders mission claim is abused. http://colorrevolutionsandgeopolitics.blogspot.de…
Just to check how quickly they can delete. I fear that soon I personally, i.e. my account will be deleted – so I say good by to you.
you keep posting the same thing everywhere, why?
Because he's a lying troll, that's why
Look: these rebels.., as they called.., are already been armed by USA and Europe.., by Saudis and Turkish, the Qatari and Jordanians, by Libyan…, all these regimes either buy their weapons from USA or EU.., then they pass it on to these bandits.., so whatever Hagel or Obama, or the English government or French are saying is to fool you thinking that they are debating the issue. As every other USA president.., Obama needs to have a war under his name.., from Nixon to present USA president.., they can not efford to lose their war orchestrated by their head of state department.., in this case Hillary Clinton.., she bet on regime change in Syria two years ago.., that's how democracy works and been working for last 60 years in USA.
Can you really call what the US practices 'democracy,' mojo? And we elected Obama twice because we thought he would be different.
Actually I do not understand why you do not understand.
But if you need it, I can explain:
War mongering mass media is dangerous enough, but massaging the alleged antiwar movement with warmongering fraud information with a slightly anti-war style, I regard even more dangerous.
If you do not like this site, and you have convinced yourself that antiwar.com is actually prowar.com, then stop coming here. It's not like you have uncovered some great conspiracy by Justin Raimondo!
This whole narrative Obama is pushing is beyond absurd at this point…. It's also intentional deception/distraction domestically…it's also intended for certain international 'audiences' to accomplish some other things, but that's somewhat separate from the domestic lame-stream narrative…
Q: When did the Obama Administration "directly"/'openly'/'officially' provide "lethal aid" to the so-called "revolutionaries" in Libya in 2011?
A: The US never "officially" provided "lethal aid" to the Libyan so-called "revolutionaries"…ever… It was all "officially "non-lethal aid"—even till the very end and Gaddafi's dead corpse was literally publicly on display in a freezer next to pints of 'Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream'.
Don't believe me/can't remember???
Here's a NYT article about Libya and the US ('non')supply of "lethal aid" to the so-called 'rebels' through Qatar:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/world/africa/we…
Will it be any different with Syria? Why would anyone think so? It's the same President. Again, the US is already arming the Syrian rebels.
Obama will not "officially"/'openly' "arm the rebels" (if this ever becomes "official" at all) until after the US, at the least, starts firing Cruise, Tomahawk, and Patriot missiles into Syria–as the the so-called "rebels" are already being openly armed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia under CIA supervision.
What weapons could/would the US provide the so-called "rebels" 'directly' Qatar and Saudi Arabia are not already provided them under CIA 'supervision' (i.e. a 'vetting process')? If the US isn't satisfied with the 'level' of "lethal aid" currently being provided under CIA 'supervision', there are virtually unlimited ways the Obama administration can provide additional $$$s to Qatar and Saudi Arabia through the US Treasury…which I won't get into…
Maybe an 'agreement' is simply made that the US will boost the "non-lethal aid" and Qatar and Saudi Arabia will, in turn, boost the "lethal Aid" to the so-called "rebels" for this multinational "effort"….
"Directly" (meaning 'openly') arming the so-called "rebels" implies all sorts of 'risks' and potential political 'complications' for Obama–including, but not limited to, the US Congress and annoying 'questions' by the lame-stream (such as: 'is Assad gone yet?' and, 'why are the armed "rebels" doing most of the actual fighting terrorists? Etc…).
"Officially arming" the rebels will be a political commitment to "regime change" by military force. Obama will not make this commitment unless he somehow perceives he's forced to do so and is willing to commit to all out war–as this commitment will only bring risks, pressure and complications for Obama. He didn't have to do this throughout the entire Libya war…so….what's different? Were the so-called "Libyan Rebels" short of weapons? Does anyone seriously believe the US wasn't 'leading' that 'effort'?
another way of looking at this is, IF Obama officially declares war on Syria, then Syria can officially fire upon the US…that's always a possibility. But because this is an unofficial proxy war, Obama has no concern about any overt retaliation while Syrian Republic is busy killing off the hired guns and shutting down the supply routes. Obama comes out from the skirt around his theatre of war would make him and the US a direct target.
contra war proxy war…it's the american way…obama is status quo
Remember the story about one cold night on the4 desert when the camel stuck its nose in the tent and asked to just stuck his toes inside.As you recall the camel eventually succeeded in getting all of himself inside to the detriment of the bedouins. This is the way with Syria. We already have our noses in there but soon we will be fully under the tent of war.
At the time of Hagel's nomination, there were lots of comments about his being critical of Israel and not being under the thumb of the Israel lobby. How wrong were they?
"considering" lol
The most likely reason for the US administration intervening in the Syrian civil war is that right now the hotchpotch of Syrian insurgency badly needs a helping hand to keep it going and not fizzle out.
The other and more important reason is to help implement Israel’s strategic objective of bleeding Hezbollah and Iran in a conflict with no end in sight. An unending Syrian civil war, as long as it does not dangerously destabilize Jordan, is in the interest of Israel and probably also the US. Chaos in Arab lands and Arabs killing Arabs are the key to Israel’s predominance and survival in the Middle East.
The new developments in the Syrian civil war are clear for all to see: this insurgency has now turned very ugly for the ordinary Syrians, who were leading a rather normal and peaceful life under Assad. One need not be a political scientist to realize that in the final reckoning most ordinary Syrian, like all ordinary people all over the world, value their physical security far above some abstract luxuries such as democracy and freedom of speech.
Long gone are the days of mass demonstrations against the Assad regime. The ordinary Syrians probably will not for much longer tolerate the enormous inconvenience and hardship this foreign-inspired armed insurgency has landed them in; and turn their back on the rebellion which so far has only made their lot ever more wretched.
Sounds good to me. Given that Al-Qaeda is a known participant in the rebel cause and given that giving aid to a terrorist organization can get an American labelled a terrorist, we are on the verge of victory. If indeed the government crosses the line into a terrorist entity, and since terrorists have no rights at all, we will not even have to concern ourselves with impeachment trials, just grab the traitors and shove them into Gitmo
Today on NBC at noon they had the head of the Syrian opposition claiming the use of nerve gas on several occasion. But little evidence was provided Then the pro war NBC report said Obama is considering a no fly zone. Just one more step to all out war in Syria. A war the U.S. will loose. Obama is a pathological liar.
That Israel wants the Oil in the Syrian Golan might be a factor..
Hagel is Obama's Colin Powell, a reluctant but ultimately reliable liar and killer.
US Considering Arming Syria Rebels, OH really ?? LOL What a freaking joke.
It's not just a comment, it's a fact the US and UK has been supporting the Syrian Rebels, if you don't believe there is nothing I can do about it but here is the question, and only if you're a smart person.
Why almost two days ago there was a fire fight on the Turkish boarder??
What was that all about ??
Those were the guys that were send into Syria to fight as so called (freedom fighter) but now they wanted to come back because of number of reasons …..> Can't address (None of you has the proper clearance)
Is one of the options Hagel alludes to minding our own damned business, and not throwing gasoline on the anti-Syrian jihadis?
Is one of the options Hagel alludes to minding our own damned business, and not throwing gasoline on the anti-Syrian jihadis?
hagel the perfect israeli double agent? commerce secretary going to aipac member penny p. the billionaire…obama proxy war cia hit squads in syria…
wtf?
nothing to see. move along.
Now that Syria seems to be getting the upper hand the US and Israel have gotten hysterical and feel they must do something radical.