In August, President Barack Obama "secretly" authorized support for Syria's rebels. It was so "secret" that Reuters had a story about it. It "broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad."
At the Daily Beast, former Obama administration State Department member P.J. Crowley believes that " Later this year or early next, Washington may formally recognize the Syrian opposition as a viable alternative to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad." Well, okay, sometimes you have to back a less undesirable alternative, but if you do, I would think Obama owes it to the American people to have them understand the true nature of those you're backing. As of this moment, very few Americans know what the rebels would want to do if they achieve power. MEMRI does, because its people watch Middle Eastern TV and videos. What follows is a transcript from an October 21 broadcast (HT Weasel Zippers):
Syrian mujahid: We will move on. When, Allah willing, we cleanse Syria, we won’t stop there. We will continue to the Shebaa Farms and Kafr Shuba, and we will pass through the Golan Heights all the way to Jerusalem. And then...
Other Syrian mujahid: All the way to Persia.
Syrian mujahid: Then we will make an about-turn, cleanse Iraq, where there is still some filth. After we are done with Iraq, we will move on to Constantinople, and then Cordoba and Andalusia. That’s it. Now that we have weapons, we don’t intend to ever lay them down.
The West, Bashar, and America should be happy. This is what you get for supporting the Bashar regime. We told you that we wanted freedom. If you had removed him, you’d never have heard from us again. You have brought this upon yourselves. We have become Islamists. We have become terrorists. You forced this situation upon us. You could have called him up and said: “Bashar, get out.” He would have left. But instead, you supported and financed him. Why? Because he serves as [Israel’s] border guard. Not a bullet has been fired there in the past 48 years.
Other Syrian mujahid: What do you say? Should we change the name of our unit?
Syrian mujahid off camera: We should call ourselves the Al-Rahman Brigade.
Syrian mujahid: No, we should call ourselves the Robin Hood Brigades.
The Obama administration has had several months during which it could have communicated what the rebels are really like (surely it knew before the video MEMRI found). The rest of the press has had six weeks to follow up on the video's content, and as far as I can tell hasn't communicated its contents anywhere. Given that the current government's possible use of chemical weapons may force a military intervention, why not? And while we're at it, does anyone believe that a group bent on Israel's destruction will have any compunction about using chemical weapons to bring it about?
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
