U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement today denouncing the Obama Administration’s failing strategy against ISIS and urging the President to undertake efforts to train and assist local forces and protect civilians in Syria as ISIS and other al-Qaeda affiliates continue to expand their control and gain recruits.
“Jabhat al-Nusra’s victory over moderate opposition forces in northern Syria over the weekend serves as strong authentication that the Administration’s current strategy in Syria is a disaster. Not only is the President’s approach alienating our key potential allies on the ground in Syria, but it is failing to achieve its core objective as ISIS and other al-Qaeda affiliates like Jabhat al-Nusra continue to expand their control and gain recruits.
“Much of the President’s stated strategy relies heavily on having a local force on the ground capable of fighting ISIS. Yet despite vocal support for moderate opposition fighters in Syria, the Administration has continuously failed to match its actions with its rhetoric, providing little meaningful support to those fighting and dying in the battle against ISIS. This failure complicates the task of finding reliable coalition partners on the ground and generates anger and resentment among the Syrian people, which only benefits our adversaries.
“Applying a half-hearted bombing campaign without seriously undertaking complementary efforts to train and assist local forces and protect civilians in Syria is simply doomed to fail. It is time for this Administration to stand by our Syrian allies, as it has done for other communities in Iraq and Syria, and move quickly to support moderate opposition forces fighting against ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and protect the Syrian people from Assad’s deadly air campaign. Until such actions are taken, I fear that the threat posed by ISIS will continue to metastasize.”
Question: Since when is arming one side or another in a bloody civil war ever a good idea?
See related video: Rand Paul arming Syrian rebels is a stupid idea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DveDwEk122Y