Associated Press (AP), whose telephone records were secretly seized last year by Obama, disclosed on June 26 that the House Intelligence Committee unanimously rejected an Obama request to arm Syrian rebels, delivered through Secretary of State John Kerry, in a secret hearing last week. Both Democrats and Republicans alike demanded a more detailed plan before allowing it to go ahead. The other House committees to which the administration presented the request, rejected it nearly unanimously as well.
Sources told AP that the administration needed approval from several Congressional committees, because the plan involves taking money currently being spent on other U.S. intelligence activities.
Obama responded to the flat rejection by the Congressional panels last week, by asking Speaker Boehner to come to the White House Tuesday to discuss the plan, and followed up Wednesday with a White House meeting with a larger group of legislators who were briefed by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, since Kerry is in the Mideast.
Lyndon LaRouche has said that such arming of the rebels would be a giant step towards World War III. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey has also devoted himself singlemindedly to preventing Obama from doing it for the same reason. Clearly, the word is spreading.
The AP Leak
AP summarizes, "Lawmakers last week rejected the Obama administration's initial proposal to arm Syrian rebels, refusing to fund the plan until the White House presents options for what action the US might take at the UN, or what actions might trigger the administration to set up a... no-fly zone."
"At one of the closed-door briefings, Kerry outlined the administration's broad strategy for Syria, while a senior CIA official discussed the specifics of the agency's plan to arm and train selected rebels. One official familiar with that briefing said lawmakers were skeptical of the CIA's plans and raised numerous questions and concerns."
Additionally, a June 27 AP wire said that a bipartisan group of Senators and Congressmen held a news conference that day, to say that they were pushing a resolution that would prevent Obama from arming Syrian rebels without approval of Congress.
Jones filed H.Con.Res. 40 on June 20, which says that the sense of Congress is that if the President went to war against Syria without Congressional authorization, it would be an impeachable offense. He added on June 27, that he would file a bill of impeachment as soon as the first U.S. soldier died in such an illegal war.
Nolan had earlier introduced HR 2432 on June 19, which would prohibit the US from arming the so-called Syrian rebels.
A resolution to the same effect, HR 2501, was also introduced June 25 by Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, head of Homeland Security. Rooney said the administration has been unable to assure him that the weapons won't wind up in the hands of al-Qaeda. "The President needs to make a convincing case that this is in our national security interest, and he needs to lay out a clear and comprehensive mission, including an exit strategy. He hasn't done that yet."
Then on June 26, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced HR 2507, which intends to "prohibit any military assistance to Syrian opposition forces unless Congress issues a formal declaration of war pursuant to Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution." It is cosponsored by 9 other Republicans so far: Walter Jones, Joe Pitts (PA), Ted Yoho (FL), Mo Brooks (AL), Justin Amash (MI), Phil Roe (TENN), Mark Meadows (NC), Scott DesJarlais (TENN), and Louie Gohmert (TX).
