• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Senate votes 78-22 for Obama’s plan to arm jihadis against other jihadis

Sep 18, 2014 9:04 pm By Robert Spencer

harry_reid_605_apBreitbart reported last week that “the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), Al Nusra Front, and the Islamic State have paired together in order to fight President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Armed Forces, according to statements from multiple commanders from within the FSA. ‘We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army’s gatherings in… Qalamoun,’ said Bassel Idriss, a commander of a Free Syrian Army brigade.”

In July 2013, Free Syrian Army fighters entered the Christian village of Oum Sharshouh and began burning down houses and terrorizing the population, forcing 250 Christian families to flee the area. Worthy News reported that just two days later, Free Syrian Army rebels “targeted the residents of al-Duwayr/Douar, a Christian village close to the city of Homs and near Syria’s border with Lebanon….Around 350 armed militants forcefully entered the homes of Christian families who were all rounded-up in the main square of the village and then summarily executed.” And in September 2013, a day after Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Free Syrian Army as “a real moderate opposition,” the FSA took to the Internet to post videos of its attack on the ancient Syrian Christian city of Maaloula, one of the few places where Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken.

These are the moderates we are arming.

“Strong Senate vote for Obama on Syria rebel aid,” Associated Press, September 18, 2014:

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the heat of an election campaign, Congress cleared the way for the U.S. military to train and equip Syrian rebels for a war against Islamic State militants Thursday night, reluctant ratification of a new strategy that President Barack Obama outlined scarcely a week ago.

The 78-22 Senate vote sent Obama legislation that also provides funding for the government after the end of the budget year on Sept. 30, eliminating any threat of a shutdown. The House approved the bill on Wednesday.

In an appearance at the White House soon after the vote, Obama said he was pleased that a majority of both Republicans and Democrats had supported the legislation. “I believe we’re strongest as a nation when the president and Congress work together,” he said. Noting the killing of two Americans by the Islamic State group, he said that “as Americans we do not give in to fear” and would not be put off by such brutal tactics.

In the Senate, 44 Democrats, 33 Republicans and one independent voted for the bill, while 9 Democrats, 12 Republicans and one independent opposed it.

The issue created new fault lines for this fall’s elections for control of the Senate as well as the 2016 race for the White House.

“Intervention that destabilizes the Middle East is a mistake. And yet, here we are again, wading into a civil war,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. laying down a marker for Republican presidential primaries still more than a year distant.

Sen. Mark Begich, in a difficult re-election campaign, said, “I disagree with my president” on the wisdom of having the U.S. military become involved. “It is time for the Arab countries to step up and get over their regional differences” and be more aggressive in the fight against terrorists, the Alaska Democrat said, drawing a quick rebuttal from Republican rival Dan Sullivan.

Combining approval for aid to the rebels with funds to prevent a government shutdown into a single vote made it difficult to measure support for Obama’s new military mission.

For a second straight day, the administration dispatched top-ranking officials to reassure lawmakers — and the public — that no U.S. ground combat operation was in the offing. Obama made the same promise in an address to the nation eight days ago laying out his new policy — and repeated it Thursday night. His new strategy includes increased airstrikes in Iraq and the possibility of strikes in Syria.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told one House committee that Obama “is not going to order American combat ground forces into that area.”

Appearing before a different panel, Secretary of State John Kerry said the administration understands the danger of a “slippery slope.” The term was widely used a half-century ago as the United States slid ever deeper into a Vietnam war that eventually left more than 50,000 U.S. troops dead.

Obama’s general plan is to have U.S. troops train Syrian rebels at camps in Saudi Arabia, a process that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said could take a year.

The president already has said he will use existing authority to have the Pentagon deploy airstrikes against Islamic fighters in Syria as well as in Iraq.

From halfway around the world came a chilling reminder from militants who already have overrun parts of Syria and Iraq and beheaded three Westerners. This time, the Islamic State group released a video showing a British journalist who said he was their prisoner.

In Washington, leaders in both political parties supported the Senate legislation, draining the debate of all suspense.

Asked about approving Obama’s plan in the wake of the war in Iraq, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “Iraq was a mistake. I was misled and I voted wrong. But this is not Iraq, this is a totally different thing.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell also favored the legislation, yet said it must be followed by a top-to-bottom review of the administration’s global military strategy….

That is needed, but if it is done, it won’t be done properly.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), United States, Useful idiots, willful ignorance Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Neil Jennison says

    Sep 18, 2014 at 9:10 pm

    So the current best plan is to arm every Jihad group in the Middle East and hope they blow each other to pieces?

    Rather than us?

    • Saving Silverman says

      Sep 18, 2014 at 9:21 pm

      They’ll kill our soldiers during the training exercises. Happens all the time. Why give weapons and military instruction to terrorists? The collective lunacy of our leaders is demoralizing. We can’t vote enough of these bastards out fast enough.

      • mercury says

        Sep 19, 2014 at 7:59 am

        Hate to say it but, Assad isn’t looking too bad at this point.

        • TH says

          Sep 19, 2014 at 7:27 pm

          Neither he nor his father bothered Christians, rather they left them live in peace.

  2. EYESOPEN says

    Sep 18, 2014 at 9:18 pm

    Absolutely idiotic – and immoral (on a number of counts).

    • Bro. Nick says

      Sep 18, 2014 at 9:31 pm

      What else can be expected from the politicians – who we the ‘sheeple’ elect – of
      anti-GOD/anti-CHRISTian/anti-Jew
      pro-Satan/pro-Mohammedanism ‘Amerika’??????

      (21) Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
      (22) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
      (23) And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
      (Rom 1:21-23 [KJV)

      (23) He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
      (24) When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
      (25) And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
      (26) Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
      Luke 11:23-26 [KJV])
      .

  3. somehistory says

    Sep 18, 2014 at 9:48 pm

    Proverbs 29:2, written by a wise king, points out that, “When the righteous are many, the people rejoice, but when anyone wicked bears rule, the people sigh.”

    synonyms of wicked: evil, sinful, immoral, wrong, morally wrong, wrongful, bad

    This can’t turn out well for any Christians who are still alive there. Thankfully, Christ does not forget those who love His name and do their best to observe His commandments.

  4. CogitoErgoSum says

    Sep 18, 2014 at 9:51 pm

    Oh yes, let’s do arm and train these guys so they can be better fighters when (and not if) they turn against us in the future. “Kill the nonbelievers wherever you find them.” (Qur’an 9:5) Maybe these “moderate” Muslims will be more gentle as they go about cutting our throats. Stupid is as stupid does.

  5. Wellington says

    Sep 18, 2014 at 10:03 pm

    22 didn’t. And from both parties (21 of them) and pretty evenly at that. Well, whatever the motive—–a sound one or just a matter of stumbling into the truth—–it’s more than I thought would oppose this most foolish of initiatives. As for the 78, shame on them. All of them. Not one of them could have even half the understanding of Islam that Robert Spencer does (or if one did and still voted in the majority then that person is definitely something worse than merely foolish).

  6. fair_dinkum says

    Sep 18, 2014 at 10:34 pm

    airstrikes: yes
    Special forces assassinations of Emirs? : yes

    Ground troops? dont be so hasty.

    we need to fight the people and companies funneling money to these dogs. and pigs and apes.. murders, rapists bent on genocide and obliterarion.

    we need to make it implode. and hope that iraq and iran decide to crush them from both sides..there are enough shia in the iraqi forces to at least mutually attack with iran.. im on pure hope here.

    but stranger things have already happened.

    • fair_dinkum says

      Sep 18, 2014 at 10:36 pm

      sorry.. and certainly NOT arm anyone.. let them starve from lack of money and guns.

  7. Salah says

    Sep 18, 2014 at 10:54 pm

    “..a process that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said could take a year.”

    That’s the goal of this administration: give ISIL time to consolidate its power. Air strikes are nothing but a saving-face farce.
    The traitors in the W.H. and their Muslim Brotherhood “advisers” WANT ISIL to flourish. They are doing it through their allies (Turkey and Qatar) and now through our so-called elites. They ALL need to face justice.

    • Custos Custodum says

      Sep 19, 2014 at 12:22 pm

      That’s the goal of this administration: give ISIL time to consolidate its power.

      Precisely. Moreover, Obama’s real aim is to HAND SYRIA TO ISIS.

      Obama personally enjoys the teenage rebel sense of “cool” at helping a Muslim terror organization take power and rape and murder non-believers. Obama’s backers in Qatar and Turkey have their strategic visions which may or may not pan out in the long run.

      We need to be much more aware of the massive degree to which the media, Federal and state governments, and private entities have been neutralized by PAID FOREIGN AGENTS at the highest reaches.

      Particularly dangerous is the technique of post-retirement pay-offs/sinecures for senior government officials whose colleagues quickly learn the value of being on the good side of the Saudis, Qatar, George Soros, Carlos Slim etc.

    • Custos Custodum says

      Sep 19, 2014 at 12:28 pm

      That’s the goal of this administration: give ISIL time to consolidate its power.

      Precisely. Obama wants to hand all of Syria to ISIS while pretending to support rival groups.

      The inevitable massacres of Alawites, Druze, Christians, Yazidis etc. are not collateral damage, but a welcome side benefit to demonstrate that nobody stands in the way of the supremacists.

  8. dumbledoresarmy says

    Sep 18, 2014 at 11:57 pm

    Who voted against?

    More than ever, every single jihad-aware American posting or lurking here must – if not already involved – join and support ACT for America and lobby, lobby, lobby and educate, educate, educate, both at State and Federal level. Besides supporting Mr Spencer here, via his tip jar, and the Freedom Defence Initiative, etc. Every little bit helps. The counter-jihad is a grassroots movement that will, I am afraid, have to be “crowd-sourced”.

    Examine every politician carefully. Is there *anyone* out there in the landscape who could conceivably be electable as POTUS? I really do like the look of Allen West; so where are the people backing him, supporting him, encouraging him? Who else is there who is “possible”? Are there “dark horses” lurking in the wings?

    If you support ACT for America, from county level on up, you stand a better chance of finding and backing those people who could become State Governors, or even..President.

    This is important not just for the USA but for the whole free world and for all non-Muslim countries, even many unfree and semifree. If the USA were to snap out of its current dhimmi stupor and rearrange its alliances and policies and spending accordingly, *many* other countries would find that things were looking up.

    Imagine, for instance, a president who delivered a resounding “Talaq, Talaq, Talaq” to Islamic Pakistan and realigned toward India – thus aligning the world’s two greatest democracies. Imagine such a realignment undertaken in the light of a “summit on Jihad” to which *no* Muslim country would be invited.

    But it will all start – has to start – with your local chapter of ACT for America and your lobbying – and examination – of your local politicians.

    And the rest of us in our various countries, whether we be from the First World or the Third World, the WEst or the Rest, have to do something similar.

  9. Jay Boo says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 12:44 am

    Axis of Evil
    If the US (Obama) and Germany with the blessings of Turkey would stop harassing Putin over Ukraine and let him have free reign to aid Assad in Syria ISIS would be neutralized in days.

  10. WVinMN says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 2:09 am

    Harry Reid..
    “Iraq was a mistake. I was misled and I voted wrong. But this is not Iraq, this is a totally different thing.”

    You miserable POS! You had access to every bit of pre-war intelligence you sniveling little crap weasel!

  11. Don McKellar says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 2:32 am

    Well, look at it this way…

    At least we all know that there are 22 Senators who have a clue about the reality of the situation. Who are they? What are their names? Is there a list available?

    The rest of the senators now need to be removed from office at the first opportunity. They are retards who are sending YOUR MONEY to finance jihad!!! You think about that. You think about that hard. What are you going to do about it?

  12. duh_swami says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 3:45 am

    Out of ignorance or worse, the 78 voted for Allah, and you can be sure, Allah will reward them for it. For that, they must be punished.
    I will reward them for it myself as soon as I find out who they are. The computer is my weapon, ‘ready, aim fire’…Not one of them will escape my wrath.

  13. Charli Main says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 4:21 am

    I will assume that these 78 Senators are nominal “Christians”. These vile creatures have just voted to speed up the rape, beheading ,crucifixion and extermination of any remaining Christians in the region by the satanic forces of Islam.
    Well done Senators. Your services to Satan and HIS Islamic tools will be rewarded in Hell.

    • Burt says

      Sep 19, 2014 at 8:09 am

      100% spot on comment Charli

  14. Wolfgang says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 4:52 am

    the words come to mind regarding the Politicians in the West ………” Dumb and Dumber…..

    even Tony Abbot today said………”The Prime Minister stated that terrorism should not be equated with the Islamic religion or the Muslim community.

    “This isn’t about peoples’ religion, it’s not about what people wear, it’s about potential terror attacks here in Australia and that’s what we’ve got to guard against,” Mr Abbott told the media on Thursday.

    Obama, Abbott, Cameron etc, if these leaders are so damm smart how come they are so dumb ?

  15. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 6:43 am

    So a while back we did their work by overthrowing Mubarak and Ghadaffi. When Hamas did its unprovoked mass murder missile attack on the Israeli Jews, we paid both sides, both the murderers and the victims. We bring them into our countries and put them on the welfare; we pay them to be themselves and to breed and take and plot, so long as they vote Democratic, which they do. We pay the Pakis to not launch their nukes, and wink when they harbor OBL and sell a downed drone of ours to the Communist Chinese. We’ve even wiped the terminology of the Holy Ko-Ran from our books.

    What happens when we run out of money, out of falsehoods, out of kindnessnesses? What happens when our gas tank of self-delusion runs dry?

    This policy of feed thine enemy can only go in one direction. You can’t overpower with love someone who holds a fervid belief of hate.

  16. jimjames says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 9:02 am

    This is a horrific mistake. It reinforces all the separate Islamic gangs and empowers them to carry out their individual programs to wage jihad and establish a caliphate. Through the “back door” and through “the window” this supports Hamas. This blindness emboldens jihadists everywhere and immediately further endangers the State of Israel.

  17. SpiritOf1683 says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 9:39 am

    Alkl this proves is that more than three quarters of your senators are dumber than a box of hammers. Congratulations. You’ve voted to arm ISIS. You’ve rewarded the kidnapping and beheading of hostages with filling their arms with tons of weapons and munitions. Just imagine, had these dingbats been around in 1945, they’d have dropped enough munitions and supplies on Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan to keep them going until 1950 at least

  18. Roha Waha says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 10:11 am

    This is outrageous , I am so angry, I have been watching the Syrian war closely for three years, using many sources and have seen the evidence of the execution s of
    Christians, Ale-white’s & Shia . What do they think is going to happen when Damascus is over run, I think it will be the Mass Murder and the Islamic State will
    push the FSA out and we will have the Islamic Caliphate on Israels border.

  19. Jae M says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 10:32 am

    Didn’t the moderate Syrian rebels sign a truce with ISIS and now support each other? So not only did Obama fund the rebels with money, now with weapons and training that will pretty much go to ISIS?

  20. bill says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 11:29 am

    obozo is muslimbrotherhood whole damn administration in infested with ragheads or crackers that have converted to this bullshit religion

  21. Abe says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 2:28 pm

    Unfortunately, I believe Obama knows exactly what he is doing, arming ISIS so they can continue their campaign into Israel .

  22. J-Mac says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 8:58 pm

    BHO and the” gutless wonder-look out for me and my family” Senators (painful to capitalize their title) are but pawns of the NWOE. The genesis of this evil is much higher than the executive and legislative branches. America is in deep deep trrouble folks!

  23. Geppetto says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 5:31 pm

    Getting a Congress firmly in the hands of the republicans this November may slow the Obama juggernaut to oblivion down a bit but America will remain in the hands of incompetents on so many fronts, foreign policy and defense strategy for sure among them. The threat of IS and all else that is transpiring in the Middle East and in America for the past 20+ years has taught the governing and military elite nothing about the nature of an enemy that we’ve been actively fighting since 9/11. The enemy is no one country or terrorist group. The enemy is Islam and until our leaders at every level and the leaders of the western world develop the cojones to openly state what is blatantly obvious this slow downward spiral of modern civilization will continue at an accelerating pace. That these politicians sitting on their posh thrones in the richest city on the planet making decisions that Americas troops will have to implement should make all our stomachs churn in dread and disgust.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Walter Sieruk on Iranian top dogs approve bill to end UN nuclear inspections, increase enrichment
  • Dude on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Infidel on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • Infidel on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • Mojdeh on Audio: Robert Spencer on Muslim Brotherhood influence in a Biden/Harris administration

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.