The $500 million Congress "authorized" for Syrian "rebels" was donated by Saudi Arabia. Believe it or not, the money authorized for Obama's Sunni fighters in Syria was NOT our tax money. Hold on to your seats – it's hard to believe our Congress would do this, but they did.
Here is the deal Barack Obama cut with the Saudis. The Saudi king wanted Obama to attack ISIS, which had become a threat to the king's mercenaries, known as the Free Syrian Army. As part of the deal, the Saudi king agreed to give the United States $500 million to arm and train the mercenaries working for him in Syria. To sweeten the deal further, King Abdullah offered to use a couple of the bombers he had bought from us to make some symbolic raids against ISIS – raids that would not be dangerous to his pilots. What does King Abdullah expect to get out of this? The ouster of the Shiite government of Syria by Barack Obama, and at the same time downgrading ISIS' ability to come after the him.
Wow – what a deal! And according to President Obama and his buddy in this, Sen. John McCain, it all ends well … except for the secular-leaning Alawite Shiites and the Christians of Syria. The Christian men get beheaded for not converting. The Christian women and girls get forced into Islamic marriages or outright sexual slavery, and the male children are forced to convert and fight jihad for Islam. As for those Christians who do manage to escape the slaughter and flee to Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey, they are ignored by American and European aid agencies that are afraid to offend the Muslim majorities by helping the despised "Nazarenes." What a wonderful deal you have made, Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain!
Obama is likely planning to request even more money for Islamic fighters, and his requests must be vigorously opposed. The Obama administration plans to provide "evidence" that the non-war we are currently fighting against ISIS will take years, and that a larger and better armed force of "moderate" Sunni mercenaries is required to defeat them. The concept of training Sunni mercenaries to fight Sunni rebels is totally delusional.
Obama says the Free Syrian Army, made up almost exclusively of Sunni fighters, will fight ISIS. Actually, the FSA has already signed a treaty deal with ISIS. Most of the weapons we have given the Free Syrian Army so far have gone to ISIS and in turn been used to attack Christian towns and villages. And the Free Syrian Army itself has targeted Christian schools and churches in Damascus and in Jaramana, the largest majority Christian city in Syria. The reality is that all groups concerned, except for Assad's forces, are Sunni Islamists who want to destroy the church. There are no good "moderate" Sunni Islamists who will protect the Christians.
There was a hard fought attempt to stop funding for the so-called Free Syrian Army, in both the House and the Senate. On the House side, my good friend Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas delivered two floor speeches against sending further funds to any of the Sunni fighters in Syria, including those King Abdullah and President Obama support. He had this to say about Obama's request for funds:
"Though President Obama says the Islamic State is not religious, their radical Islamist leaders are apparently unaware of that. The leadership of the Free Syrian Army says that they are willing to fight and kill alongside the Islamic State, who they say shares their religious beliefs. The Islamists that President Obama wants to keep arming have also worked with al-Qaida affiliates in the past and will in the future.
"Even if someone is naive as this administration's officials, they should have become alarmed long before now that weapons this president has been sending to the 'vetted moderate Free Syrian Army' for over a year continue to end up in the hands of our sworn enemies. America should have no part in arming and training these radical armies. Since the Islamist State says they are at war with us, we should eliminate them without giving our enemies more weapons with which to murder us."
On the Senate side, Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul were the most outspoken against the aid to "vetted moderate" Islamists in Syria. Many call Sen. Paul a libertarian, but I have spoken privately to this man and know he and his wife are committed Christians who love the Lord and that he is deeply ashamed of how Christians have suffered in Iraq and Syria because of the actions of our nation. In an effort to derail Obama's request for more money, Sen. Paul said:
"Bashar Assad is clearly not an American ally. But does his ouster encourage stability in the Middle East, or would his ouster actually encourage instability? Are any of the Islamic rebels our allies? Will they defend American interests? Will they acknowledge Israel's right to exist? Will they impose Shariah law? Will they tolerate Christians, or will they pillage and destroy ancient Christian churches and people? The president and his administration have not provided good answers to any of these questions."
He then pointed to Obama's record on dealing with Syria:
"Regarding whether we go to war at all, or under what circumstance, remember that the president last year wanted to intervene on the OTHER side of this war. Let me reiterate that: This administration and its allies on both sides of the aisle in seeking perpetual war, last year wanted the United States to join this war on the side of ISIS, against the Assad regime."
Others spoke out against the United States sending aid to the Christian killers in Syria, but the majority in Congress were more interested in leaving town than in doing what was right.
In the end the majority voted to add the Saudi money to the budget, but with broad resistance. There was no willingness to shut down the government and stay in town and away from campaigning for re-election. Both Republican Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid had added the funds into a continuing resolution. Once the funds were approved as an amendment, the only way to stop the funding was to shut down the government. No one was going to do that, just a month before the election.
In all, 156 representatives and 22 senators voted against the president's request to accept King Abdullah's $500 million and use it to arm and train "moderate" rebels. Half of those voting against Obama's request were Democrats, which shows the wide disapproval in the country. Had this been real taxpayer dollars, the amendment to the spending bill to keep the government open until next year may not have passed.
A message has been sent to the despots who rule over Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Whatever they want the United States to do, we will comply as long as they foot the bill. If we are willing to take money from the Saudis to train mercenaries who will kill Christians, what is next? How much will we charge to betray Israel?