Sep 11, 2014 ... "His entire national security team, including his secretary of state wanted to arm  and train and equip these people and he made the unilateral decision to turn  them down," said John McCain, a Republican critic of Mr Obama. Mr Obama  tonight described the rebels as "the best counterweight to extremists like ...
Sep 10, 2014 ... And in an epic talking-heads battle with former White House press secretary Jay  Carney – now a CNN analyst – the Arizona pol claimed Obama's 'entire national  security team, including the secretary of state' said they wanted to arm and train  Syrian rebel groups. 'And he made the unilateral decision to turn ...
Apr 1, 2014 ... Since civil war broke out in Syria three years ago, Obama had kept the conflict at  arm's length, declining to accept wholesale the advice of some of the most  experienced members of his foreign-policy team. In 2012, CIA Director David  Petraeus urged him to equip and train the rebels, a strategy strongly ...
Oct 11, 2015 ... Steve Kroft questions President Obama on topics including Russia's incursion in  Syria, ISIS and the 2016 presidential race. ... to effectively create this proxy army  inside of Syria. My goal has been to try to test the proposition, can we be able to  train and equip a moderate opposition that's willing to fight ISIL?
Oct 11, 2016 ... The Obama administration's early policy in Syria damaged U.S. "credibility  everywhere in the world," says former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. ... After  the fall of Mosul there's a decision made to focus on the politics of Iraq and force  the removal of [Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki] from office. Militarily, we ...
(Obama's) entire national security team, including his secretary of state, said we want to arm and train and equip (Syrian rebel forces), and he made the unilateral decision to turn them down.