Posted on 12/04/2016 12:30:35 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Congress authorizes Trump to arm Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles
The House voted for the first time today to explicitly authorize the incoming Donald Trump administration to arm vetted Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles.
Summary Today, the House passed a defense bill that conditionally allows the provision of MANPADs to anti-Syrian regime forces.
Author Julian Pecquet Posted December 2, 2016
While the language in the annual defense bill also creates restrictions on the provision of the controversial weapons, it represents a win for Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., a fervent advocate of helping the rebels resist President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies. The Senate is expected to pass the bill next week.
Until now, the transfer of man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADs, had been implicitly authorized in the absence of an outright ban. Critics, however, view the new provision as tantamount to a policy recommendation for the president-elect.
"I'm more afraid of Congress on this issue than I am of Trump,” said Robert Naiman, the policy director at Just Foreign Policy, a liberal advocacy group that lobbied for a ban. “I think Congress is trying to tie Trump's hands against making a realistic deal with Russia to end the Syrian civil war. And they are trying to pressure him in the direction of not doing that," he told Al-Monitor.
/snip
Mattis is well known in military and foreign policy circles for his aggressive determination to take on America’s foes, notably Iran, including in Syria and Iraq. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee as far back as January 2015, however, he opined that the time for supporting moderate rebel fighters against Assad's forces had "passed."
(Excerpt) Read more at al-monitor.com ...
No, no, hell no.
McCain would gladly “authorize” Trump to take a long walk off a short pier, I have no doubt.
how long before one of these is used to take down a commercial airliner? thanks McCain, you -—— .
How did you come by the idea that Assad was elected in a free election?
Here is a report on the Assad government and elections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_presidential_election,_2014
Of particular interest is this quote: “Attempts to hold an election (in 2014) under the circumstances of an ongoing civil war were criticized by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon,[15] and it was widely reported that the elections lacked independent election monitoring.[16] However, an international delegation led by allies of Assad[17] from more than 30 countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, Iraq, Nicaragua, Russia, South Africa and Venezuela[18][19] issued a statement claiming the election was “free, fair and transparent”.[20]”
I am surprised that you as a FReeper would consider any election designated as “free, fair and transparent” by Cuba,Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, among others as legitimately elected.
Right I thought they already had our girliepads thanks to Hillary and the Libyan connection.
So did I!
Your comment on the situation is spot on. We don’t want to jeopardize Assad’s control of Syria while we are trying to take out ISIS. That would complicate our ability to focus on ISIS. We already know what happens when a leader falls and its aftermath. There are bigger fish to fry at this moment.
I have read that Assad has nuclear weapons, or is working on nuclear weapons. If ISIS were to over-run Assad, that would put them in possession of this capability if Assad has them, or any other dangerous capability. We don’t want ISIS to have possession of any weapons of mass destruction that Assad might have. We can deal with Assad later.
I don’t see the same information in the current bill text....still “(Sec. 1229) Prohibits funds from being used to transfer or facilitate the transfer of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) to any entity in Syria.” in the current version:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2943
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2943/actions
Current full text...(huge file/download may stall you browser): https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2943/text
It is not difficult to see Assad as a bad apple who used less than ethical tactics to get into power. I am sure it would be easy to side with the rebels and help them take out Assad. That would be a bad idea because the rebels are allied with ISIS and I suspect, Iran. Iran may be playing both sides for their own benefit. What concerns me is what type of weapons of mass destruction does Assad have control over? I have heard nuclear which may have been the result of Saddam Hussein’s secret transport of such material out of Iraq before the invasion. If ISIS gets control over such material—or weapons—we are in serious trouble. We must work from the least dangerous option and focus on the most serious option.
Or a luciferian taking orders from his boss!
Its a win-win for the Neo-Con/PATRIOT Act vermin in Congress... if the “rebels” shoot down Russian planes, we might get war with Russia. If terrorists get those MANPADS to the US and they shoot down a few passenger planes, then they try to impose a police state on the US in the name of “security”.
I am not in favor of taking out Assad after ISIS is eliminated. We know what happened when Sadam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were eliminated. The entire region was destabilized and it opened up the control by worse regimes. I say let the Syrian people deal with their own leaders in a evolutionary process; not a revolutionary process. That way the Syrians have the organizational stability to defend their country against forces that do not have the country’s best interests in mind.
Both in my opinion and also trying to test the waters
Meaning, trying to drag Trump into the swamp he is trying to drain.
I do not think Trump will fall for it if taking advice from Mattis and using his own brand of logic.
That is, McCain is an imbecile insider within more hidden agendas than Hillary has slush funds.
When will people stop this nonsense? When he gives our country away?
Hmmm...this seems sketchy to me.
I thought this quote came from a satire site. It did not. “To stop these atrocities, I’m willing to take the risk of a manpad … falling into the wrong hands, because we’ve got to stop it.” It come right out of Time magazine. He is willing to see a civilian airliner shot down. “We know what happened when Sadam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were eliminated.” We came, we saw, they died. Ha Ha Ha. This is a bipartisan policy. McCain, Graham, Ryan, etc. are all for it. The Obama administration created ISIS and armed it. Will they arm only “vetted” rebels? How does that work out. Two of Senator John McCain’s Libyan “heroes,” Abdelhakim Belhadj and the late Abu Mosa, turned out to be ISIS leaders.
I don’t care if Assad is elected or not. How many leaders of countries are not elected? Is it out job to remove them? The Obama administration is committing acts of war without a congressional declaration. He is trying to provoke Russia.
I think Trump is smart enough to stay out of that messy little fight.
NO WAY is it a good idea to let anti-aircraft missiles into the hands of jihadis. It’s good that the Stringers we gave the anti-Soviet Afghan rebels have likely passed their expiration date.
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