What is a Syrian Moderate Rebel?

Are you for real? You mean to tell me there is no definition in the resolution that specifies what exactly comprises a Moderate Syrian Rebel. Not surprising and it only goes to prove the USA has no clue what it is doing so much as throwing money at a problem and hope it goes away.

To begin, there is no such thing as a Moderate Syrian Rebel. A rebel is a rebel and that is all that is necessary. This is not an election of rebels.

This is Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (click here). She is from the 46th District in California. Her committee assignments are interesting.

House Armed Services Committee

• Ranking Member, Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee
• Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

Committee on Homeland Security

• Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security
• Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence

She was at the House Armed Services Committee meeting today when Secretary Hagel was speaking. Along side of Secretary Hagel was LTG. Maysville. I have to say that General Maysville did have a conceptual model and idea of what was to come for the Syrian Rebel force.

But, Congresswoman Sanchez was unafraid and not a bit inhibited to verbalize her understanding of what exactly a moderate Syrian rebel would look like.

According to Rep. Sanchez this is exactly what the moderate rebels in Syria looks like. The Congresswoman has a district where Syrians live. They have spoken with her because to them the idea of a moderate rebel was IS/IS/L. It was the moderates in Syria that formed the most deadly force in Syria.

The committee hearing was interesting but also broken. Two members were interested in only campaign ads and it showed. There was no doubt Secretary Hagel is a Republican and threw the occasional bone to the ad seeking Congressman. But, that aside, the questions mostly were answer by the Secretary when in fact it was the General that needed to respond. He had an opportunity to speak twice, one time at the insistence of the Secretary.

While the Congress has no clue as to what a moderate Syrian rebel looks like and how all that money will develop a fighting force, the General had a better understanding. He stated there would be a vetting process and then the candidate for soldier would be assigned to a unit to learn to be a soldier. It was from there they would be a unit and ultimately a unit serving a leader of a new nation. 

I have confidence the USA military is sincere in developing a fighting force that will remove IS/IS/L from Syria. It will not happen overnight. And according to the General not everything will go perfectly and not ever vetted soldier will be what they hope for, but, he was confident it would go well.

I don't know what role the General played in Iraq or maybe didn't at all, but, when the entire country of the USA had confidence in the strategy to train and equip an Iraqi forces so the USA had at least increment of success, it failed. Today more than half of the Iraqi forces trained by the USA are a failed element in Iraq and questionably loyal.

If General Maysville is an example of the military we have among our enlisted and officers, I want something from him. He needs to tell his Secretary of Defense exactly what is transpiring in this effort and if it is failing, that has to be on record. I would really appreciate that.