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Report: [Visibly angry] Obama told lawmakers that Syria criticism was 'horse****'
The Hill ^ | August 12, 2014 | Rebecca Shabad

Posted on 08/12/2014 6:40:04 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

President Obama recently told lawmakers that their criticism of his policy in Syria is “horse****,” according to a report published late Monday.

A member of Congress told The Daily Beast Obama used the expletive during a July 31 meeting at the White House just before the August recess.

Another lawmaker also said that the president got visibly angry after both Democrats and Republicans questioned the administration’s policy.

Many lawmakers and Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have urged Obama to arm Syrian rebels to push back at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, attended the meeting and asked a long question in which he sharply criticized a series of U.S. foreign policies, one lawmaker said.

Obama responded by defending the administration’s approach in Syria, arguing that the idea that arming the rebels earlier would have produced a better outcome was “horse****,” the lawmaker told The Daily Beast.

White House officials confirmed the tense exchange, but did not confirm the president used the expletive, the report said.

Rep. Elliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, arrived late to the meeting and caught part of Obama's defense of his policy. Engel said he heard Obama use more polite language.

“The president still feels very strongly that we are deluding ourselves if we think American intervention in Syria early on by assisting these rebels would have made a difference,” Engel told The Daily Beast. “He still believes that. I disagree, respectfully. They were not looking for U.S. troops, they were looking for help and the Syria civil war started with the most noblest of causes.”

Clinton suggested in an interview with The Atlantic published Sunday that the administration might have been able to stop ISIS’s rise if the U.S. had more aggressively armed Syrian rebels in 2012.

Over the last year, the CIA reportedly began to arm the moderate opposition groups in Syria. In June, Obama proposed a $500 million package to train and equip them.

Obama told The New York Times in an interview published Friday that the idea that arming Syrian rebels would have made a difference has “always been a fantasy.”

“This idea that we could provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth, and that they were going to be able to battle not only a well-armed state but also a well-armed state backed by Russia, backed by Iran, a battle-hardened Hezbollah, that was never in the cards.”


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: iraq; isis; middleeast
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

The most thin-skinned person ever....


21 posted on 08/12/2014 6:59:34 AM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: Starboard

>> He’s going to have a melt down one of these days.

Can’t come to soon to suit me. It won’t be pretty for many of us... but once it’s over we’ll be rid of the satanic bastard.


23 posted on 08/12/2014 7:00:11 AM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: blackdog
Geeee, mister, I know there's a pony in here somewhere!
24 posted on 08/12/2014 7:00:36 AM PDT by null and void (If Bill Clinton was the first black president, why isn't Barack Obama the first woman president?)
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To: tcrlaf

He dodges responsibility because he is terrified at the thought of being held accountable for anything that would make him look bad. IMO this deep seated insecurity essentially paralyzes him. His failures are progressively snowballing into an avalanche. He’s really starting to feel the pressure.


25 posted on 08/12/2014 7:02:25 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: jsanders2001
Obama makes more sense on Syria than Hillary or Corker or McCain, or the GOP and an apparent majority of FRs.

Putin on the other hand makes more sense than the whole bunch. He must have Obama's ear on the issue.

26 posted on 08/12/2014 7:03:11 AM PDT by duckln
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5% Carry 100% of Free Republic Expense


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Support FR Or Lose It

27 posted on 08/12/2014 7:12:05 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

The Dems are in full panic mode. They will be calling for his impeachment Labor Day. By then rev al will have the cities in full riot mode.


28 posted on 08/12/2014 7:13:05 AM PDT by DownInFlames
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To: null and void
If I hold back so much, I'm likely to have a heart attack.

I really need to let it all out.

29 posted on 08/12/2014 7:13:28 AM PDT by Lazamataz (First we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; jazusamo

Since I don’t think arming ANY Islamic ‘rebel’ is a good idea, then the Syrian policy isn’t bad because it didn’t arm good jihadists before arming bad jihadists.

Arming them at all was stupid. Pretending they were better than Assad was stupid. Every single step of this president’s policy toward the middle east has been calculated to get muslim brotherhood type factions or sympathizers into power.

Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

Occam’s Razor: Obama wants radical islamists in charge of middle eastern governments.


30 posted on 08/12/2014 7:14:29 AM PDT by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
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To: DownInFlames
[Democrats] will be calling for his impeachment Labor Day.

20 bucks cash money says no way.

31 posted on 08/12/2014 7:14:31 AM PDT by Lazamataz (First we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them.)
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To: Starboard
Narcissists don’t deal well with criticism. He’s going to have a melt down one of these days.

He will nuke a major American city.

32 posted on 08/12/2014 7:15:18 AM PDT by Lazamataz (First we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them.)
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To: Lazamataz

Probably a liberal cess-pit.

The betrayal when they wake up will be too much for him to bear.


33 posted on 08/12/2014 7:17:17 AM PDT by null and void (If Bill Clinton was the first black president, why isn't Barack Obama the first woman president?)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Is nobody saying the problem is that the US armed rebels to topple a stable gov that protected minorities and that the arms ended up with the most vicious fighters? That US policy of regime change has been a disaster throughout the mideast?

The thought that we should've given MORE weapons to rebels who couldn't keep the first time....doesn't that meet the definition of insanity?

34 posted on 08/12/2014 7:17:22 AM PDT by grania
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To: Lazamataz

Make it Thanksgiving and I’m in for $20.


35 posted on 08/12/2014 7:18:33 AM PDT by null and void (If Bill Clinton was the first black president, why isn't Barack Obama the first woman president?)
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Comment #36 Removed by Moderator

To: duckln

Hillary Clinton ranks right up there with the Nazi Germans when, towards the end of the war, tried to assassinate Hitler to avoid war crimes.

The only difference is she’s using verbal assassination to avoid being tied to 0 before ‘16 elections.


37 posted on 08/12/2014 7:22:41 AM PDT by RetSignman (obama: "For the love of Alinsky, how much more do I have to do to get them to impeach me"?)
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To: xzins

All good points.


38 posted on 08/12/2014 7:23:24 AM PDT by odds
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

But 0bama wanted to bomb assad on the behalf of isis anyway.


39 posted on 08/12/2014 7:24:49 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (The GOP-e scum enlisted Democrats to steal the Republican primary. The GOP-e can go to Hell.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Think about this- how many times was either presidents bush or Ronald Reagan “visibly angry” at criticism over their policy? They weren’t narcissists like the current child in the white house.


40 posted on 08/12/2014 7:25:14 AM PDT by Tulane
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