Free Syrian Army soldiers in Idlib

The New York Times’ front page story this morning is that the Obama administration has finally decided to send firearms to aid the Syrian rebels. These guns (at the moment, only small arms like AK pattern rifles, not including anti-tank or anti-air missiles) will be handed out without any background checks, registration or other hallmarks of the gun control plans that president Obama says are necessary in the United States . . .

From the Times:

The Obama administration, concluding that the troops of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria have used chemical weapons against rebel forces in his country’s civil war, has decided to begin supplying the rebels for the first time with small arms and ammunition, according to American officials.
Multimedia

The officials held out the possibility that the assistance, coordinated by the Central Intelligence Agency, could include antitank weapons, but they said that for now supplying the antiaircraft weapons that rebel commanders have said they sorely need is not under consideration.

There’s no doubt that this will be an interesting juxtaposition should the gun control debate heat back up.

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84 COMMENTS

  1. I,believe its little different,depends how you look at the cituasion..then haven stop me for purchase any arm ,and they haven said it will..

      • He’s waited until there are no good options. But yes, he is arming our enemies, just as he is doing in Egypt. If the rebels win, he will have handed another country over to Muslim Brotherhood/Al Qaeda. It is hard to believe the amount of damage the administration has done to western interests in the middle east in such a short time. I don’ think they could have done much better if they were openly working to undermine the USA.

    • Clearly, you just don’t understand. THOSE virulent anti-American al Qaeda-linked One-World-Caliphate-dreaming rebels are our FRIENDS, because they are fighting against a virulent anti-American Iranian-linked Russian-allied government that is our ENEMY even though it’s never done anything against US personally but is our ENEMY because it doesn’t love FREEDOM and hates our indoor flush toilets.

      And if you disagree, you’re just like Hitler.

      • The irony is that Russia is a natural US ally against radical Islamism (because it has that problem on its immediate territory, and countries bordering it, and so has a major incentive to deal with the problem).

        More surprisingly, Iran can also be an ally. Yes, it’s a theocratic state, but unlike most other “Islamic republics” Iran is first and foremost an Iranian nation-state. It will support Shia militia groups (which are borderline terrorists) abroad, much like USA and USSR supported local militias in their own proxy conflicts, but it’s not a “terrorist state”. They are obviously vying for the dominant position in their region (at the expense of SAR, UAE etc), but they’re not interested in waging a never-ending jihad for the sake of establishing a worldwide Caliphate, so there’s no point in anything like 9/11 to them.

        This means that you can actually conduct meaningful diplomacy with them, establish treaties etc, and can expect these to be adhered to. At the same time, al-Qaeda and other Salafi terrorist organizations hate Shia in general, and Iran as a prominent Shia state in particular. Note also that Salafis are funded by states that are the direct enemies of Iran – most notably, Saudi Arabia. So it would, in fact, be in direct US interests to let Iran take dominance in Middle East and take down SAR – this would cut down on terrorism like nothing else, and direct most of what remains towards Iran rather than US.

        The only reason why US is so stubbornly anti-Iran is because Iran would also compete with Israel for dominance, and US is blindly pro-Israel in everything, even at the expense of its own interests in the region.

    • “JUST”? Where have you been? It was the same as Libya, a decent country by most accounts. Al-Queda is a total CIA creation, built by Zhigniew Brzezinski out of the Mujahideen, to be used as enemies, “friends”, whatever the geopolitical goal of the hour may be. TOTALLY 1984 crap.

      But HEY!$! Now Assad had WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!!!
      All legally owned under international law, by the way.

  4. Didn’t we learn anything with Iran, Iraq, and Libya? The weapons will either go to our enemies, or the rebels will become our enemies after they win the war.

    • We learned it does wonders for the continued dominance of the military industrial complex. Sprinkle in a little BOR shredding for our own safety at home from these newly created “terrorists” and it’s everything a government could want.

    • The weapons will go straight to our enemies because the rebels already are our declared enemies.

      The “rebels” are imported Al Queda fighters looking to set up a legitimate political haven for themselves.

    • No we didn’t learn anything from yesteryear.

      Yes, our government is that arrogant and stupid.

      f^cking idiots. f^ck the whole lot of them (yeah im talking to you NSA, you f^cking retards) /rant over 😀

      • You merely managed to offend the semi-sentient NSA supercomputer. Nothing that an analyst would look into…yet.

        On an unrelated note, my Cyberdine Systems Inc. shirt covers my Glock 27 quite nicely.

  5. But wait, I thought assault rifles would be ineffective against a government backed by a modern military? My world is crumbling around me!

    • Assault rifles would be useless against OUR government backed by OUR modern military. The rest of the world is OK.

      • Sadly, that’s not true. Take a look at our military in the middle east. Pretty much a third world span of sand. Yet, we still haven’t “won”. How much of that is due to politics versus military might.

        • I think he’s pointing that out in an underhanded way. People who poo-poo the usefulness of firearms as a tool against tyranny often make the claim that guns don’t do any good against planes and tanks. Then they turn around and complain that the president isn’t acting fast enough to send guns to rebel groups that are fighting against planes and tanks.

        • Define “win.” Exterminate everybody in the world that doesn’t want to be dominated by bloodthirsty pseudochristians?

  6. Typo alert:
    “… has finally decided to send firearms top aid the Syrian rebels.”

    Should be “to”, not “top”. Carry on.

  7. Of course, the Gov/CIA has always sought instability in the middle east. If the rebels win, it’ll still mean another 5+ years of instability. Nothing surprising here really.

    • Of course not. They’ve all already passed. “The enemy this week of my enemy this week is my friend this week.”

  9. Sent guns to Mexican drug lords during Fast and Furious.
    Sent 1.3 billion $ to Egypt in May. Who btw just go hot mic’ed calling us the “enemy”.
    Sending missles,money, guns to Syria rebels who back 9/11 terrorists.
    Pissing off China and Russia with “spreading democracy” cough-war-mongering-cough.

    Apparently we can’t seal our borders to keep out those now heavily armed Mexican cartel.
    Now we’re going to have tooled up radical extremists with more armament than any Free State could shoot in its lifetime who hate America and would love to bring “peace” to us by accepting their prophet.
    Obama and the feds are showing the beginning signs of a tyrannical government, spying, arresting, intimidating the free people.

    Apparently I, an American Citizen, can not own guns according to the Elites to defend myself from all this shit. There is no more ‘Democrat vs. Republican’.
    This is free people vs a very rich, well organized, mob that uses false patriotism and hides behind the American Flag to force what they want on the world.
    Happy Father’s day weekend. Remember those Father’s who didnt die for us to just sit back and this happen.

  11. So why do we care about Syria? Why are my tax dollars going to send them free firearms? I want some free guns… Obama doesn’t want us armed but we arm these terrorists? So they’re using sarin gas…until they go to use it on Americans or our allies, I DO NOT CARE.

        • Explain this ‘fact’ you speak of. Both Russia and Syria deny any chemical weapons used. The fact is = reports last month suggested it was the rebels.

        • fact my ass

          i remember when it was “certain” and “fact” that hussein had chemical weapons.

          I was along the border at that time, WTF would i know…

        • There have been allegations of both loyalists and rebels using gas, with some evidence on both counts. By your own logic, should US also be supplying arms to Assad?

        • WLCE, Hussein did in fact have chemical weapons. The reason why US knew that for a fact is because US (along with Germany, Italy and France) was the one that supplied them with equipment necessary to manufacture it in the first place, originally so that they would be used in a war against Iran (and they were so used, but he also left some stockpiles, just in case).

          The real problem was a misrepresentation of what they had. Pentagon and CIA showed 3D-rendered videos of how mobile labs produce “biochemical weapons” (implying viruses and such) for use in ICBM warheads. What Saddam actually had were

      • Do you really think Israel wants another Muslim Brotherhood ruled state on its border?

        • because believe it or not there are sensible military commanders in the United States and Israel that do not want to go to war.

          Also, believe it or not, Iran is actually a credible enemy. If they were a banana republic-type dictatorship, like Iraq, they would have been occupied a long time ago.

  13. Arming the Afghans worked out so well, and didn’t come back to bite us in the ass… Oh wait.

    • Or the Iraqis. Or the Iranians. Or so many Central and South American tin-pot dictators that it gets hard to keep track of them all. There really is nothing new under the sun.

  14. Arming the Afghans worked out so well, and didn’t come back to bite us in the ass… Oh wait.

  15. What’s maddening about this is that this administration and the likes of John McCain have decided there are good guys and bad guys in this. The fact is both sides are fundamentalists which means both sides hold ideological hatred toward the US. Being as “buying” friendship has failed at every turn in this part of the world (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Iraq et al), you would they would have learned. I mean I know they are too damned dumb, ignorant, arrogant to have read either the history of the religion or its doctrine to know why.

    The real tragedy is that in some number, we will be seeing US troops on the ground there, operating under the same damnable COIN paradigm and its horrendous ROE….and this while this same batch of congressional bandits cannot even agree to close down the border and secure the homeland.

    We’re not circling the toilet bowl; we’re passing through the trap!

    • Assad is not a fundamentalist. He is a dictator, yes, but his ruling ideology is Arab nationalism (that’s what Ba’ath is all about!), and it’s explicitly secular and in opposition to Islamism. That’s why Syria had Shia, Sunni and Christians all living side by side under him.

      • Don’t confuse the facade of secularism for irreligious stance. This is in an Alewite and they are largely Shia and a particularly virulent variation. Their/his eschatological view mirrors the Clerics in Iran…the main reason Iran wishes to see Assad stay in power. There geopolitical reasons to be sure but only as they serve the greater cause, for Allah. Discount this and you perpetuate the single greatest error in our overall involvement in the region.

        BTW; there are Christian enclaves in nearly every Islamic nation who manage to survive until it is no longer viable to allow them to live or to tolerate their coexistence. Even Afghanistan has Christians – I know some. Egypt the same way and I am acquainted with some there as well.

        Point being; both sides have shared ideological beliefs and both sides share hatred for all the West, US and Israel.

  16. The so-called Arab Spring was nothing but a misnomer at best. Since taking office, Obama has concentrated his attention on empowering Muslim Brotherhood spawned organizations ( including al Qaeda and Hamas) across the planet. Hosni Mubarak (Egypt), Gaddafi (Libya) and Assad (Syria) posed no threat to us and did much to prevent the Islamics from gaining control of their contries. The SOB’S Muslim- empowerment agenda has done much to compromise the security of our beloved nation and imperil the future of our children.

  18. This kind of thing usually works out very well. Look at that Saddam fellow… things went alright there, right?

  19. Another fast and furious. Isn’t this against the UCMJ. Giving aid and comfort to our enemies? Besides its a tribal war. We need to stay out of it.

  20. Interesting. Taxpayer dollars are available to give free “assault weapons” to non-American citizens without any background check or accountability. In the US, taxpayer dollars are spent on warrantless spying of US citizens, background checks, denying concealed carry permits, and enforcing unconstitutional gun laws. We need to find better uses for our tax dollars.

  21. Good lord we need to get this idiot out of office. It was an easy decision to have the USA stay out of this one but noooooo, we have to stick our noses (and tax payer $) where it doesn’t belong again!

  23. I predict in less than 10 years, these very arms will be used against American troops.

    We fail to learn from history and continue to make the same mistakes over and over…

    • Agreed. But its more like 1 year. These rebels are just a tool to gain control of Syria. I mean we used Sadaam Hussein in the 90’s then we killed him once we didnt need him. So once we dont need the rebels anymore we’ll just declare them terrorists and then we’re off on another war path. Again.

  24. Personally, I’m all for whatever keeps these douche bags busy killing each other. As such, I hope this “civil” war goes on forever, and the only question I have is, how do we get the rest of them doing the same thing on a more regular basis? It’s not like they need help finding someone to kill (what was it, something like 70 coup d’etats in the 20th century, and nearly 30 of them being successful?), but that would be the most effective anti-terrorism measure we could ever implement.

    But all this will do is give us more to worry about in the future.

  25. You mean those rebels that decapitate children for ‘blasphemy’?
    Remember that every revolutionary becomes the establishment when their cause prevails.
    My tax dollars well spent.

  26. I’m not trying to sound like a nerd, but I will. The video game Metal Gear Solid 4 kinda already covered this and summed it up pretty well. The government is showing interest in ID Tagged weapons (with non user lock-out features), there’s always been a global war economy, and every couple of years we just get more open about it. Arm rebels, create enemies, keep the wars going, keep the economy on its toes, etc. Take out the A.I. Controlled illuminati sub-plot, and its pretty much a reality in the making. War never changes. I just hope there’s a guy willing to sell me lock free guns on the black market for all those Drebin points I have saved up.

  27. Arming citizens protesting their government? What a concept! Please MSM, ask Obama why American taxpayers should buy “assault weapons” for Syrians while you work to disarm us. Gotta go barf now.

  28. “has decided to begin supplying the rebels for the first time with small arms and ammunition”

    for the first time, my ass! this administration has been funneling money & arms to them before Benghazi 9-11-12. this was planned. kind of like being told that we were not being spied on, then its revealed (but its keeping us safe from the terrorists).

  30. We have been giving them weapons, food,money, etc the whole time, even Rand Paul started to say so this year, they are as you know the same one’s we are fighting in Afghanistan to control the drug trade profits for the CIA…WHAT a pack of DIRTY RATS… and Hilary,McCain, and Kerry are up to their eye balls in this ONE WORLD government.. and the rest are just Marxist who hate America……….

  31. The REAL REASON is that they WANT world war 3, and they want it this year, and the winner gets lots oil and money and control of the pipe line, and it bails out the FED (the petro dollar) again……and you will see controls on We the people .. like never in the history of mankind…

  32. It makes perfect sense that the regime that sent guns to the drug cartels in Mexico would also send guns to Hamas in Syria.

    It’s also quite a thrill to see yet another proxy war between Russia and the US. I thought we were done with those, but apparently we are not.

  33. Someone needs to start a re-call election against McCain. He is a straight up MORON!!

    This idea of arming our enemies has a 14% approval rating amongst Americans. I am SHOCKED it is that high.

  35. Thanks to the Idiot in Chief. Al Qaeda now will have free Stinger javelin and Dragon missiles that they will use not only on the Syrian Army but our Army in Afghanistan. More dead Americans like in Benghazi thanks to the idiot President we have.

  36. Didn’t we already do this once or twice? I believe the last time we know of was a guy named Bin Laden and a group called the Taliban.

  37. Is that the new Toyota Urban Assualt Vehicle those guys are unassing? And green cammie with white sneaks will really help you fade into the background in a dust yellow country.

  38. Don’t forget more white tennis shoes. Some of those guys didn’t get the memo and they are wearing black.

  39. However you feel about the state of Israel and the state of Syria, I think it is fair to say that the Syrian people did not deserve this war imposed on them from abroad. I knew a couple guys from Syrian before it got started and nobody there saw it coming. Syria is a secular country and the people there had a pretty decent quality of life compared to other parts of the middle east.

    I’ve seen videos of horrific war crimes committed by these “rebels” on both completely innocent people and captured Syrian soldiers and I can’t believe that the United States and NATO are so keen to support this. It is evil, plain and simple and I really don’t think we’re going to benefit from supporting any of these monsters. I’m actually ashamed to know that my country has anything to do with this, based on what I have seen and what I know for a fact about this conflict.

    If Obama wants a fight with Syria, let us fight them with honor. Not like this, with a hodgepodge of barbarians who are the enemies of civilization in general.

  40. Also Qatar wants control of the oil pipe line, the major supply source of the rebels, next is Saudi Arabia, who also was the source of 9/11 and the Arab spring, they want the middle east in trouble so the people will not see how evil their leaders are and the oil interest go hand in hand… with the Globalist , the Russians support Syria , that is how ww3 will start, and red China and North Korea will come in on the side of Syria also. India and Israel are in the middle of this mess not taking sides , Iran will also Support Syria… that’s the line up for World War 3 , and right now the USA has 1400 Marines in Jordan , Turkey is up for grabs !

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