McClatchy: Syrian Ambassador Robert Ford Spent Years “Agitating From Within A Reluctant Administration To Arm Vetted Moderates To Fight Bashar Assad’s Brutal Regime,” But Ultimately Changed His Mind After Becoming “Increasingly Critical Of [Syrian Rebels] As Disjointed And Untrustworthy.” “Robert Ford was always one of the Syrian rebels’ loudest cheerleaders in Washington, agitating from within a reluctant administration to arm vetted moderates to fight Bashar Assad’s brutal regime. In recent weeks, however, Ford, the former U.S. ambassador to Syria who made news when he left government service a year ago with an angry critique of Obama administration policy, has dropped his call to provide weapons to the rebels. Instead, he’s become increasingly critical of them as disjointed and untrustworthy because they collaborate with jihadists.” [McClatchy, 2/18/15] U.S. Ambassador To Syria Robert Ford On Secretary Clinton’s Push To Arm Rebels: “Clinton Understood That The Guys With The Guns Mattered…That It Would Have Regional Implications, And That It Could Become One Large Operating Area For Al Qaeda.” “For Clinton personally, the engagement of the armed groups was crucial and the White House’s forced policy of pretending that the best way to support the revolution was through the civilian opposition based in Turkey was foolish. ‘Clinton understood that the guys with the guns mattered, not the people in Istanbul, that it would have regional implications, and that it could become one large operating area for al Qaeda,’ said Ford. ‘In 2012 and the start of 2013 the most we could do was to provide help to the civilian opposition. We had no permission from the White House to help the FSA, so we did not do so.’” [Daily Beast, 8/14/14] SECRETARY CLINTON CITED THE U.S. FAILURE TO BOLSTER ARMED REBELS IN SYRIA AS A REASON FOR THE GROWING POWER OF JIHADISTS IN SYRIA Secretary Clinton: “The Failure To Help Build Up A Credible Fighting Force” Among The Syrian Opposition “Left A Big Vacuum, Which The Jihadists Have Now Filled.” “I know that the failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle—the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled. They were often armed in an indiscriminate way by other forces and we had no skin in the game that really enabled us to prevent this indiscriminate arming.” [The Atlantic, 8/10/14] JOHN MCCAIN HAS REPEATEDLY ACKNOWLEDGED THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA DECIDED NOT TO ARM SYRIAN REBELS DESPITE SECRETARY CLINTON’S PUSH TO DO SO John McCain On The Syrian Opposition: President Obama’s “Entire National Security Team, Including His Secretary Of State, Said We Want To Arm And Train And Equip These People, And He Made The Unilateral Decision To Turn Them Down.” “MCCAIN:…I'm astounded that Mr. Carney should say that the Free Syrian Army is now stronger. In fact, they have been badly damaged. CARNEY: That's not what I said, Senator. I said, if I could, sir, what I said is that we know a great deal more about the makeup of the opposition. MCCAIN: Oh, come on, you knew about it -- come on, Jay, we knew all about them then. You just didn't choose to know. I was there in Syria. We knew them. Come on, you guys are the ones -- it's your boss is the one that when the entire national security team wanted to arm and train them, that he turned them down…facts are stubborn things, Mr. Carney. And that is, his entire national security team, including his secretary of state, said we want to arm and train and equip these people, and he made the unilateral decision to turn them down. And the fact that they didn't leave a residual force in Iraq, overruling all of his military advisers, is the reason why we're facing ISIS today. So the facts are stubborn things in history. And people ought to know them. And now the president is saying basically that we are going to take certain actions, which I would favor. But to say that America is safer, and that the situation is very much like Yemen and Somalia shows me that the president really doesn't have a grasp for how serious the threat of ISIS is.” [CNN, 9/10/14] John McCain: President Obama “Overruled The Senior Leaders Of His Own National Security Team, Who Were In Unanimous Agreement That America Needs To Take Greater Action To Change The Military Balance Of Power In Syria.” “Mr. McCain said he was dismayed that Mr. Obama had ‘overruled the senior leaders of his own national security team, who were in unanimous agreement