September 18, 2014
By Arlette Saenz
The Senate (click here) passed a stop gap funding measure tonight, which includes authorization for President Obama's plan to train and arm Syrian moderates in the fight against ISIS.
The Senate voted 78-22 on the continuing resolution, which will fund the government and authorizes Title X until December 11.
Many Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the continuing resolution, making this a rare bipartisan showing in the Senate....
President Obama has the idea that this is going to work. Our Air Force has made it possible to end the occupation of Iraq by IS/IS/L and that is what is primarily reflected in this authorization. This does not include any movement of the USA into Syria.
The USA has attempted for 8 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 5 days to train and equip Iraqi forces to protect the sovereignty of their land and they didn't have the leadership or preparedness to sustain a fight against a terrible rebel force out of Syria. There is nothing that tells me there is going to be a difference in training Syrian rebels.
Saudi Arabia is the only truly successful country in the Middle East to grow a military and contain radical elements in their society without the presence of the USA anywhere in the region. Saudi Arabia can stand on it's own and has a proven track record.
The Saudi forces weren't grown up over night. The stability of that country is due to a long standing government and a steadfast military. Syria is so broken the able bodied that can be soldiers are very divided to their loyalties. I don't see the fall of IS/IS/L without a strong central government and a military to insure complete dissolution of it's loyalists. That is not at all the picture of Syria in the near future.
The USA is completely out of it's element in the Middle East and always takes the Israeli position as a default setting. That is not correct. It is because of the USA's inability to establish a sincere understanding of the Middle East outside of Israel that it fails to have a cohesive policy.
No one wants to admit the anti-Assad policy of the USA is completely wrong, but, it is. Assad and his family have ruled in Syria for a long time. He knows the country and it's people and his Shea minority ethnic identity maintained itself as the leader of that country all these many years.
Assad was accepted as a leader in the Middle East by most Arab countries and they did not complain about him. Israel complained about him.
The best use of the money being spent over the next 90 days is for the USA Air Force to continue to run sorties for the Iraqi fighting forces including the Kurds. As far as training Syrian rebels, that needs to be left up to advisers in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis don't want this instability and will sort through the ability of rebels to best serve the new militia to end the presence of IS/IS/L. The Saudis will be loyal leaders to the effort and be sure all those that join as individuals will finish their training loyal to their unit and to a political leadership. If there is no political leadership that can provide an effective sovereign presence in Syria the United Nations Resolution in forming a power sharing government will fail.
Assad was accepted as a leader in the Middle East by most Arab countries and they did not complain about him. Israel complained about him.
The best use of the money being spent over the next 90 days is for the USA Air Force to continue to run sorties for the Iraqi fighting forces including the Kurds. As far as training Syrian rebels, that needs to be left up to advisers in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis don't want this instability and will sort through the ability of rebels to best serve the new militia to end the presence of IS/IS/L. The Saudis will be loyal leaders to the effort and be sure all those that join as individuals will finish their training loyal to their unit and to a political leadership. If there is no political leadership that can provide an effective sovereign presence in Syria the United Nations Resolution in forming a power sharing government will fail.
