Rand Paul’s Bold Stand Against Arming Islamist Syrian Rebels

[Draggingtree]

FrontPage Magazine : Rand Paul’s Bold Stand Against Arming Islamist Syrian Rebels

May 24, 2013 By Joseph Klein

On May 21, 2013, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 15-3 to arm “vetted elements of the Syrian opposition” against the government of Bashar al-Assad. This provision was part of a bill co-sponsored by the committee chairman, Senator Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), and ranking member of the committee, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee). Hailed by its supporters as an overwhelming bipartisan show of support for the Syrian opposition, the bill, entitled “The Syria Transition Support Act,” now goes to the floor of the Senate where its fate is uncertain. Nor is the position of the Obama administration on directly arming the Syrian opposition very clear at this moment. Up to this time, the administration has proceeded cautiously.

 

Senator Paul tried to introduce a dose of reality into the committee deliberations on the bill, but the bill steamrolled ahead anyway. “This is an important moment,” Senator Paul warned. “You will be funding, today, the allies of al Qaeda. It’s an irony you cannot overcome.”

here we go again -- we are not the world's policemen / shame, shame