Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, disclosed that he and the Pentagon supported a proposal by Hillary Clinton before she stood down as Secretary of State last week to supply rebel forces with weapons,
Gen Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, also agreed with Mrs Clinton's plan, which received the further backing of David Petraeus, Mr Obama's CIA director until late last year.
Answering questions at a Senate committee hearing, Mr Panetta became the first senior Western official publicly to propose arming the rebels to oust President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces are estimated to have killed 60,000 in a bloody civil war.
"How many more have to die before you recommend military action?" he was asked by John McCain, the veteran Arizona senator. "Did you support the recommendation by then-Secretary of State Clinton and then-head of CIA General Petraeus that we supply weapons to the resistance in Syria?"
"We do," answered Mr Panetta. "We did," added Gen Dempsey. » | Jon Swaine, Washington | Thursday, February 07, 2013
Anyone who wants to arm the Jihadist rebels has got to be stupid! – © Mark
