Another 'Obamination' - Covert CIA Mission to Arm Syrian Rebels Goes Awry.

Another 'Obamination' - Covert CIA Mission to Arm Syrian Rebels Goes Awry. (WSJ).

HATAY, Turkey—It didn’t take long for rebel commanders in Syria who lined up to join a Central Intelligence Agency weapons and training program to start scratching their heads.

After the program was launched in mid-2013, CIA officers secretly analyzed cellphone calls and email messages of commanders to make sure they were really in charge of the men they claimed to lead. Commanders were then interviewed, sometimes for days.

Those who made the cut, earning the label “trusted commanders,” signed written agreements, submitted payroll information about their fighters and detailed their battlefield strategy. Only then did they get help, and it was far less than they were counting on.

Some weapons shipments were so small that commanders had to ration ammunition. One of the U.S.’s favorite trusted commanders got the equivalent of 16 bullets a month per fighter. 

Rebel leaders were told they had to hand over old antitank missile launchers to get new ones—and couldn’t get shells for captured tanks. When they appealed last summer for ammo to battle fighters linked to al Qaeda, the U.S. said no.

All sides now agree that the U.S.’s effort to aid moderate fighters battling the Assad regime has gone badly. The CIA program was the riskiest foray into Syria since civil war erupted in 2011.

Entire CIA-backed rebel units, including fighters numbering in the “low hundreds” who went through the training program, have changed sides by joining forces with Islamist brigades, quit the fight or gone missing.

The CIA program had a rocky start. President Barack Obama balked at the idea in 2012 Officials say he was concerned about a slippery slope that could lead the U.S. into another war.

A CIA analysis delivered to the White House predicted the program would make little difference. Mr. Obama gave the go-ahead in 2013 to proceed on a limited basis, partly in response to
prodding from key Arab allies, former U.S. officials say. Hmmm......Another 'Succes story' from the Obama 'admin'. Read the full story here.