Obama grants waiver for military support of foreign fighters in Syria

RT
Thu, 08 Dec 2016 18:43 UTC

© AP

ISIL terrorists

President Barack Obama has ordered a waiver of restrictions on military aid for foreign forces and others in Syria, deeming it "essential to the national security interests" of the US to allow exceptions from provisions in the four-decades-old Arms Export Control Act.

A White House press release Thursday announced that foreign fighters in Syria supporting US special operations "to combat terrorism in Syria" would be excused from restrictions on military assistance.

"I hereby determine that the transaction, encompassing the provision of defense articles and services to foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals engaged in supporting or facilitating ongoing U.S. military operations to counter terrorism in Syria, is essential to the national security interests of the United States," President Obama affirmed in the presidential determination and waiver.

Comment: So in essence, based on the wording, the Obama administration is granting military aid to anyone and everyone, at its own whim. According to Wikipedia's page regarding the AECA, "The AECA requires that each nation that receives a shipment of arms from the United States must certify that the weapons are used for internal security and legitimate self-defense, and that their use does not lead to an escalation of conflict." So we see that this waiver lets the military aid wander way outside the confinement of "nations" out into the hands of anyone the US sees as needing military aid - for example, possibly terrorist forces (sometimes referred to as "rebel forces" by various talking headings in Western governments and media) who are fighting against democratically elected Bashar Assad's government in Syria.

The order delegates responsibility to the US secretary of state to work with and report to Congress on weapons export proposals, requiring 15 days of notice before they are authorized.

Obama announced a similar waiver of the Arms Export Control Act in September 2013, following the Ghouta chemical attack in August of that year. That order facilitated the transfer of US military weaponry to "select vetted members" of opposition forces battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Thursday's order appears less narrow in scope.

Comment: As if US weapons don't ever fall into the hands of anyone in the vicinity of those weapons (and in case you didn't know already, that sort of "oopsie" happened with an alarming frequency in recent history). Interesting that this comes right as the world's biggest hostage crisis comes to an end. It's also interesting that this comes right as Obama is headed out the door of his presidency - just in the nick of time to let a bunch of weaponry to be "legally" given to US-backed terrorist forces since Trump enters office on January 20th, 2017 and might put an end to such "aid" ?