Obama Signs NDAA: $800 Million Approved For ‘moderate’ Syrian Rebels and Kiev

Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act, authorizing a portion of $800 million to be given in military aid to “moderate” Syrian resistance fighters.

Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2016 on the eve of Thanksgiving, a four-day holiday for most Americans. He previously vetoed the $612 billion bill in a well-publicized ceremony in October, arguing that the lawmakers dodged the spending limits by shifting money into the warfighting slush fund.

Although Congress then trimmed the bill down to $607 billion, the cuts did not affect the $300 million aid to the Ukrainian government, or the “zombie” surveillance blimp program that has cost nearly $3 billion so far. It also left almost $500 million dedicated to arming and training “moderate rebels” in Syria – a program the Pentagon had already abandoned.

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Originally intended to produce a 15,000-strong force by 2016, the program ended up with fewer than 200 fighters, who never even got to fight Islamic State militants. After training in Turkey and entering Syria, the first group of US-trained fighters was ambushed and captured by the Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra in August. The second group surrendered to Al-Nusra in September, turning over all their US-supplied weapons and equipment. Only “four or five” US-trained fighters were operating in Syria, Central Command head General Lloyd Austin told shocked lawmakers on September 16.

Obama did not insist on scrapping the program, even though he told ‘60 Minutes’ that he had been “skeptical from the get-go” about its prospects for success.

Source: RT

This raises a question regarding why Obama would authorize this new NDAA bill to begin with, given his professed doubts. His skepticism is a smoke-screen to hide the fact that he wants to arm Syrian rebels and, in so doing, see those arms wind up in ISIS control.

The presence of ISIS can only help to provide Obama with more authority and power. Don’t expect Obama to take any tangible steps towards eliminating ISIS, only what threatens them.