That's exactly right. It's like beating down an open door. That's why it's likely to work.
If this can be forced onto the floor of the House - not a certainty by any means, because it is very likely that the bipartisan leadership of the House will work vigorously to prevent it from reaching the floor, as they have worked to prevent similar measures from reaching the floor in the past - it will likely pass the House by a vote of something like 400 to five. It will set a precedent. that Congress - the whole Congress, not just the mostly CIA-captive intelligence committees - can openly, publicly restrict the paramilitary activities of the CIA in Syria. Such a Congressional restriction on the paramilitary activities of the CIA would be unprecedented in recent history. Furthermore, if this passes Congress, it will end the fantasy among the armed rebels that the West is going to give them anti-aircraft weapons, just as Congressional defeat of the Syria AUMF ended the fantasy that the U.S. was going to alter the balance of forces on the battlefield by bombing. This will make the Syrian rebels more amenable to a ceasefire and peace talks that end the civil war with a political agreement, a crucial hurdle to ending the war. On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 10:46 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > On 9/16/13 11:31 AM, Robert Naiman wrote: > > "We urge Congress to prohibit the Central Intelligence Agency and other > > U.S. intelligence agencies from supplying, or facilitating the supply > > of, anti-aircraft weapons to armed rebels fighting in Syria." > > > > > http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/congress-block-supply?source=c.url&r_by=1135580 > > > > This is rather like beating down an open door. The CIA has been involved > in blocking MANPAD's to the "moderates", let alone al-Qaeda. > > Wall Street Journal, October 17, 2012: > > U.S. officials say they are most worried about Russian-designed Manpads > provided to Libya making their way to Syria. The U.S. intensified > efforts to track and collect man-portable missiles after the 2011 fall > of the country’s longtime strongman leader, Moammar Gadhafi. > > To keep control of the flow of weapons to the Syrian rebels, Turkey, > Saudi Arabia and Qatar formed a joint operations room early this year in > a covert project U.S. officials watched from afar. > > The U.S. has limited its support of the rebels to communications > equipment, logistics and intelligence. But U.S. officials have > coordinated with the trio of countries sending arms and munitions to the > rebels. The Pentagon and CIA ramped up their presence on Turkey’s > southern border as the weapons began to flow to the rebels in two to > three shipments every week. > > In July, the U.S. effectively halted the delivery of at least 18 Manpads > sourced from Libya, even as the rebels pleaded for more effective > antiaircraft missiles to counter regime airstrikes in Aleppo, people > familiar with that delivery said [emphasis added]. > > “We were told that we need to get our house in order on the ground, and > that it wasn’t time yet,” said a rebel representative involved in the > delivery. > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected]
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