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Today's Poll: Do you agree with Romney that the U.S. should arm Syrian rebels?

By Howard B. Owens
John Roach

No. We are already downsizing an army that was not large enough for the two small wars we have. And, we are broke, we can not afford it. If other countries feel strongly about this, let them pay and take care of it.

May 30, 2012, 10:34am Permalink
Ed Gentner

It's not in our national interest either in the long-term or short-term. The only thing sending more arms into Syria will accomplish is more blood shed by innocent civilians. The sad fact is that we surrendered the moral high ground squandering any credibility in the region we had as an honest broker with our invasion of Iraq based on the lie that there were weapons of mass destruction.

May 30, 2012, 11:02am Permalink
Peter O'Brien

Its been established in many places including the writings of Iraqi Generals that there were weapons in October 2002 when we said there were. Then we waited 6 months on the UN which gave Saddam time to move them.

But I said no, though I do think it is in our national interest to arm them.

Israel is our ally. Israel is probably facing a war with Iran. Syria is an ally of Iran and is much closer to Israel. Getting them to be less of a threat to our ally is something of national interest considering the proximity of Syria to Israel.

But I voted no because I want something from them for arming them. I want unfettered access to the government and its policies after the current ruling establishment has been deposed. That way we can ensure fair elections and guide them into becoming another middle eastern democracy. We can't give them weapons like we did in Iraq in the 80's and expect a different outcome. We need to guide the development of their government through diplomacy and ensure we at least have a open ear to talk to when all is said and done.

May 30, 2012, 11:56am Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Meddling in the affairs of Pro Islam countries is useless, they will, as usual blame us for everything that goes wrong, and at the end of the day, they will still hate America. Let them kill each other, it is what they do best.

May 30, 2012, 6:52pm Permalink
Billie Owens

After the people of Egypt ousted their leader and cried in the streets with ecstasy over the prospect of democracy, who do they put on the ballot? A Muslim Brotherhood candidate and a high-ranking military officer who did the bidding of the ousted leader. Go figure.

May 31, 2012, 1:00pm Permalink
Daniel Jones

Just to be clear, there is a big difference between using our intelligence network in the region/arming a rebel group and launching a massive ground invasion, i.e. Iraq.

May 31, 2012, 1:15pm Permalink

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