On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed that President Obama’s massive backtrack on action against Syria pending attempted negotiation with allies of the Assad regime Russia and China had made the Syrian rebels feel “abandoned.” “I was very disappointed that the president did not mention the Free Syrian Army and our moral and material assistance for them, which is required,” McCain said on MSNBC. “I think they do feel that they’re being abandoned.”
He added, “I feel badly, very badly for my friends in the Free Syrian Army today.”
Obama did mention the Syrian opposition in his speech on Tuesday night, stating, “It’s true that some of Assad’s opponents are extremists. But Al Qaida will only draw strength in a more chaotic Syria if people there see the world doing nothing to prevent innocent civilians from being gassed to death.” Both Obama and McCain have claimed that the Syrian opposition is moderate, although widespread reports suggest that the most trained opposition fighters are affiliated with al Qaeda, even according to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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