Former Top Army Official: The U.S. Should Arm The Free Syrian Army
Obviously the date of 2010 is wrong. Maybe this will provide a new conspiracy theory that the US was funding an insurgency before the Syrian revolution began. The understanding of the balance of forces is right.
The Free Syrian Army is not perfect, but we should’ve armed them back in 2010 when they first began to ask for it. Secretary Panetta, Secretary Clinton, General Dempsey and General Petraeus all asked and recommended to the President in the summer of 2012, literally two years ago, that this organization be armed, equipped and trained, and he said no. We’d be much better off in Syria today if we had done such a thing, because it is the only organization that has taken on ISIS.
The Free Syrian Army knows that both ISIS and the regime are both bad for Syria. This is a secular organization [that] wants to be inclusive with its government, does not want an Islamist state, and wants a democratic form of government.”