To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Petition to End Support to Syrian Rebels
President Obama has declared that he will send $500 million in support and training of Syrian rebels (who have either collaborated with ISIS or defected to ISIS) with the objective of fighting both ISIS and President Assad, who are fighting each other anyway. Let's tell President Obama and Congress a loud, “NO MORE SUPPORT OF SYRIAN REBELS WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS!”
Why is this important?
This logic runs against the fact that ISIS started & grew in areas controlled by these "moderate rebels" and drew on fighters & local commanders defecting to its ranks with their weapons, some of which supplied by the West and our "allies" Saudi Arabia, Turkey & Qatar. This trend continues today with hundreds, possibly thousands, of "moderate rebels" joining the Al-Nusra front (another Al-Qaeda group) in NW Syria just in the past few days. The US needs to change its course of action regarding Syria and must choose a way of diplomacy and dialogue with new and willing partners instead of intervention and war. Trying to destabilize the existing government only serves to attract foreign militant extremist groups, such as ISIS, which in turn destabilize the region and create an environment of hostility and backlash against civilians and American citizens. Assad may be a dictator, but he had successfully outlawed all terrorist groups in Syria and protected minorities, including Christians, whose very existence is now threatened by ISIS and their affiliates. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar (our allies) are a basic part of the problem, with wealthy individuals & groups in those countries funding ISIS. Stopping all forms of financial aid and military support to the rebels and ISIS from the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, and Qatar would be the logical thing to do. Please take action to help stop this. We need to become part of the solution and not part of the problem.