Curt Clawson: Funding Syrian Rebels Not Helping Fight Islamic State

On Wednesday night, U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Fla., took to the House floor, insisting sending taxpayer funds to arm Syrian rebels was not helping in the fight against Islamic State (IS) terrorism. 

 “The Syrian Civil War has now resulted in 220,000 Syrians dead – and 11.5 million civilians, over half the Syrian population, either displaced within Syria or refugees elsewhere,” Clawson said. “History has shown that when we arm untested and difficult-to-vet rebel forces, the weapons we provide too often wind up being aimed at our U.S. troops or our allies in subsequent conflicts. Funding untested Syrian rebels is not a strategy to defeat IS.”

During his time in Congress, Clawson has been pushing back against requests to fund the Syrian revels, noting that President Barack Obama’s push for $500 million to train them, which was supposed to help more than 15,000 rebels, has led to training 400 or so.