A proposal from House Republicans to train and arm Syrian rebels is meeting solid resistance from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois.
Durbin said Tuesday that he wants a “number of changes” to the plan, which would give the Pentagon the authority to build a Syrian rebel army to fight against Islamic State militants.
“It’s not written as clearly as I think it should be,” Durbin said Tuesday, according to Politico. “We’re talking about going into Syria at this point, which is a dog’s breakfast of violence and terrorism, 1,500 different militia groups. His bill envisions vetting them to sort out the ones we can work withand those we can’t. Wow, what an undertaking — to try to turn this into a strategy that stops ISIS No. 1 and doesn’t help us out, No. 2.”
Durbin said the way the proposal is written is too general.
“I think it would be hard to base a strategy on it,” he said.
But when asked about potential changes, Durbin was non-committal.
“We are waiting to see how this comes out of the House, step 1, and what time we have and what opportunity we have to make a difference,” Durbin said.
Via Politico
