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a u.s. senator's view. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Murphy" <ch...@chrismurphy.com> To: "Faulkner, Charles" <lacena...@comcast.net> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2014 3:39:15 PM Subject: My decision to vote against arming and training Syrian rebels Charles - Moments ago, I cast my vote in the Senate against arming and training the Syrian rebels. I continue to believe that President Obama has laid out a strong case for taking the fight to ISIL. I agree with his decision to launch airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq, to compel new leadership in Iraq to achieve political reconciliation with moderate Sunnis, and to put together a broad, international military coalition. The president has shown true, decisive leadership in the fight against ISIL and I applaud him for his strength and resolve. I simply don't believe an effective strategy to combat ISIL requires America to get more deeply involved in the Syrian civil war. First, the moderate Syrian rebels have shown a disturbing willingness to join forces with Islamic extremists like the Al Nusra Front, a wing of Al Qaeda, and it will be nearly impossible to stop the rebels we train from joining forces with groups that pose a real threat to the United States. Second, it will be hard to thread the needle of supporting a majority Shiite regime against Sunni extremists in Iraq while, at the same time, supporting a largely Sunni insurgency against a Shiite leader in Syria. Third, I believe we are too optimistic that the American trained rebels will target ISIL when their true enemy inside Syria is Bashar al-Assad. Asking a minimally trained army to take on two barbaric foes at once seems unrealistic. I hope you'll be in touch with any thoughts, questions, or concerns you may have on Facebook or Twitter . I want to close by reiterating that I still firmly maintain Congress needs to authorize this new war against ISIL. This issue remains too important to not have all voices at the table before moving forward. All the best, Chris Murphy U.S. Senator, Connecticut Paid for and Authorized by Friends of Chris Murphy This email was sent to lacena...@comcast.net. If that is not your preferred email address, click here . Click here if you'd like to unsubscribe. We try to send only the most important information and opportunities to participate via email. To support Chris with a contribution, click here . ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
