I knew this was a bad idea. Hardliners, especially on the conservative end, were continually berating Obama for not arming the Syrian rebels. As if there are “good guys” and “bad guys” in this fight, and we could clearly identify the “good” rebels. Obama finally gave in, and we’ve been sending lots of heavy weaponry to certain rebel groups.
Now the two main rebel groups have surrendered to ISIS. I wouldn’t doubt they accumulated weapons partly as a bargaining chip. I imagine part of the surrender included negotiations like this: “We have lots of weapons. We’ll let you have them all, if you don’t kill us.”
There are no “good guys” in this conflict. There are bad guys (fighters) and there are innocents (civilians and refugees). I say this: let’s help the innocents, but let the bad guys settle their grievances with each other without giving them more firepower. Even the most “pro-Western” rebels still hate the USA.
